SHARON – A Chelsea cannabis grower wants to bring weed, pizza and creamies to Sharon by taking over a once-popular roadside eatery on Route 14 near recreational areas along the White River.

Sean Trombly, operator of Trombly House of Cannibus in Chelsea, has filed a petition with the Sharon Selectboard seeking a vote on whether the city should allow retail cannabis sales. Under state law, the city has 60 days to distribute ballots for the Australian election.

Trombly said he has a signed purchase agreement for the property of Sandy’s, a long-popular diner and ice cream parlor on Route 14 between Sharon and South Royalton that never reopened after a fire in the summer of 2022.

The property was offered for sale for $299,000.

“My dad and I have been talking about Sandy’s for years and just had our eye on it and thought, ‘Man, this would be a great place for a dispensary.’ Finally, it came true and they accepted our offer,” Trombly told the Valley News on Monday.

Trombly said he collected 67 verified signatures — just over the five percent threshold of the city’s registered voters — during Sharon’s Old Home Day on Aug. 17, informed Selectboard members at the board’s regular Monday night meeting on Aug. 19 and submitted the petition to the city clerk the next day.

Under Vermont state law, a valid application for cannabis retail approval must be submitted by the town through an Australian referendum within 60 days, Sharon Selectboard assistant Nicola Shipman confirmed by email.

On Tuesday, the Sharon Selectboard set Monday, October 7, as the date for the public information meeting on the petition.

How city voters will receive the proposal is uncertain, especially given the idea of ​​combining a cannabis store with a family-friendly diner and ice cream shop. Sandy’s is also just 1.2 miles from the entrance to Sharon Academy, though a similar distance between cannabis retailer The Tea House and Hartford High School in White River Junction — a more densely populated area — met little opposition from residents.

Trombly said that the cannabis store and the ice cream and food sales would be “completely separate” and that although the retail store and ice cream window would be “under the same roof,” there would still be “no access” between the two areas.

“To get into the cannabis area, you have to get your ID checked at the door. You can’t have windows that you can see in through, and you can’t have things on display,” Trombly said of the regulations for cannabis dispensaries.

He described the Route 14 location as a convenient option for White River Valley commuters “on the way home or to work” who would otherwise have to make detours to cannabis stores in White River Junction, Bethel or Randolph.

Trombly House of Cannabis grows cannabis for wholesale distribution to Vermont dispensaries. The Sharon dispensary would be the first company to venture into retail, Trombly said.

“It’s great that (Sandy’s) is located on Main Street, both from a business perspective and because it doesn’t bother the neighbors,” Trombly said, adding – an important point – “there’s plenty of parking.”

Trombly also wants to utilize the space behind the building, which was formerly used by a mobile home and has utility hookups, to house a food truck.

“We hope to rotate food trucks on the weekends,” Trombly said. “One weekend it could be wood-fired pizza, the next it could be barbecue, Saturday night it could be events and live music or cornhole games.”

“We want to make it a kind of meeting place for the community,” he said.

“Everyone wants to have food and ice cream back in town and that’s what we want to provide,” Trombly said, but noted that’s not enough.

“The entire operation depends on the dispensary. Our selling point is that everyone wants food and ice cream, but you can’t pay the mortgage on $2.00 ice cream,” Trobly said. “Having a dispensary that’s open year-round allows us to offset the seasonal impact” when outdoor dining, ice cream and entertainment elements are closed in the winter.

Trombly promises the store will sell cannabis products from a wide variety of Vermont growers, not just his own farm in Chelsea.

“Our goal is to support small, local family farmers,” he said.

If Sharon voters approve opening a cannabis store in town, the next step is to apply to the state for a retail license.

“And if it goes through, we hope to open sometime in early 2025,” Trombly said.

Contact John Lippman at [email protected].