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East Boston lettuce grower hopes to turn over a new leaf in some of his Condor Street shipping-container farms

Existing trailers

Trailers that are already green on Condor Street.

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved an urban-agripreneur's plans to convert most of the shipping containers on Condor Street in which he now grows lettuce to marijuana grow stations.

Shawn Cooney, who has been growing lettuce in four shipping containers on Condor Street near Meridian Street for seven years, hopes to convert three of them for marijuana use. He would grow the marijuana for sale to local cannabis stores; there would be no retail sales.

At a hearing this morning, Cooney acknowledged the main issue will be beefing up what is now fairly minimal security. "I don't think too many people are going to break in to get lettuce," he allowed.

Cooney said that should he gain state approval, he will install biometric locks and stronger doors to keep out would-be pot rustlers away. The wall of the trailers themselves are pretty tough stuff that would resist simple peeling back.

Cooney added that he would add cedar siding to make the site "even more pleasant than it is."

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Comments

My biggest concern would be the smell. Glad to see he's putting up cedar which should mitigate it for at least a year or so (until it starts to get a bit weathered)

People forget that the live plant smells just as skunky as the smoke does. And a bunch of them really reek.

I can't imagine it being terrible where NIMBYs might get upset, but on a warmer day you might get a whiff or two.

Interesting use of containers and probably (guessing here) the first "within city limits grow" (feel free to correct me, Adam).

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Each container will have some sort of odor-containment system.

As for whether it's the first, good question. It's the first I've heard of, but that doesn't mean much.

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If you can’t make a profit on lettuce why not make much more money with pot.

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Well some people call it the "Devils Lettuce" ..

I call it "God's Kale"

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The wall of the trailers themselves are pretty tough stuff that would resist simple peeling back.

I think everyone on here knows how to peel a trailer.

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Dude, where's my lettuce?

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I'd take the stench of cannabis over car exhaust any day...and that's not just b/c I am a pot head:)

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"I don't think too many people are going to break in to get lettuce." I don't know, though. If I was high, a nice BLT might be exactly what my munchies demand, and the L is usually the thing that I don't have in the house so ... what other choice do I have, really?

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Is it possible to have a container placed on a commercially zoned lot and turn it into a bar , I see no difference between both.

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For one thing, you'd have to get a liquor license, and those are pretty pricey in Boston thanks to the limits set by the licensing board.

Also, bars and restaurants require windows so the police can look in (yes, really). So now you start losing some of the financial advantages of just sticking a mutant crate on a pad. Plus, there are sanitary requirements that a lettuce/marijuana micro-farm wouldn't have - you're going to need plumbing for the sinks, restrooms, etc.

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People are definitely adding windows, doors, plumbing, HVAC, etc. to them.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/g172/shipping-container-hom...

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Have you looked at the price of lettuce these days.. ouch

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More like the devil's lettuce

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Lettuce, the gateway drug

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If one of these containers was formerly refrigerated, it would have been called a reefer.

Even if they are unrefrigerated, can we still refer to them as reefer reefers?

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