SKOWHEGAN — A man who advises marijuana grow house operators on legal compliance won his clients’ appeal to the town’s Planning Board, after town staff initially denied plans for a grow already partially up and running.

The board, which had tabled a vote on the plans at its meeting two weeks ago, gave the green light Tuesday for Winter Sweet LLC’s plans for a medical cannabis grow house and other related development at 667 Waterville Road, also known as U.S. Route 201.

The town’s Staff Review Committee, which in lieu of the Planning Board has authority to review “minor” site plans for projects of 5,000-10,000 square feet, denied the plans in January.

At the staff committee meeting, only Fire Chief Ryan Johnston expressed concerns and asked questions. In its written decision, the committee’s only issues were Johnston had not approved fire protection plans and Police Chief David Bucknam had not approved security and safety plans.

Johnston told the Planning Board, when it first heard the appeal Feb. 17, that he had worked with the project’s advisor, Albert Kang, to resolve fire-related issues, although he warned him new national requirements may be coming later this year.

On Tuesday, Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Crocker told the board Kang had submitted security plans in response to Bucknam’s concerns. 

“They would all appear to be in order, so I don’t know that there’s anything else that would prevent this from going through,” Board Chairman Steve Conley said ahead of the vote.

The board agreed the security details were sufficient and voted unanimously to overturn the staff committee decision.

Several members, however, agreed after the vote and Kang and his wife left the municipal building meeting room that town officials should consider revisiting how cannabis-related businesses are regulated.

A town ordinance adopted in 2016 allows facilities producing or distributing controlled substances — such as medical marijuana businesses and methadone clinics — only in certain locations. In 2017, voters enacted a prohibition on retail marijuana establishments and social clubs in Skowhegan.

“This, to me, and I may be wrong, sounds like just an illegal Chinese grow house,” said board member Michelle Kelso, an apparent nod to a law enforcement crackdown on illegal grow houses in 2024 and 2025.

Many of the busts at the rural properties resulted in arrests of people of Asian descent; federal prosecutors have pointed to a possible link to Chinese organized crime.

Kang, who has said in interviews that amid the wave of busts he started a consulting business to help small medical cannabis growers comply with state and local regulations, has insisted throughout the application process in Skowhegan that he strongly advises his clients to comply with all laws and rules. Many previously suspected illegal growers in the state have shifted into the state’s licensed medical caregiver program.

The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy’s rules are “very strict,” Kang told Kelso in an exchange earlier in the meeting, when she asked him where his clients sell their product.

Town officials, including Johnston and Bryan Belliveau, director of economic and community development and formerly the code enforcement officer, have praised Kang for his efforts to work with them.

Winter Sweet’s application, filed in late October, lists conversion of two former kennel buildings for medical cannabis cultivation as well as construction of a new pad for a mobile home and installation of aseptic system.

Kang said he found out he needed a site plan review last year when he sought to install a mobile home. The mobile home was initially installed without a proper permit, Crocker said, and when he went to address that, he noticed the extent of the cannabis growing operation.

The property owner listed on the application is Yan Qiang Mei of Missouri City, Texas, who real estate records show purchased it in 2022. Kang said the property owner is his brother-in-law, who in turn has tenants running the marijuana grow. He said tenants began growing in spring 2025 after receiving licenses from OCP.

In late 2024, Kang said the property was modified to accommodate a “multimillion-dollar manufacturing business” he ran with his brother-in-law, although he declined to specify what was being manufactured, citing a nondisclosure agreement. 

Kang said in 2024 the property was not being used to grow marijuana or for any illicit purpose.

At the time, the property was listed for sale. The original business plan fell through, but a client was interested in growing marijuana there instead, Kang said.

Crocker said Tuesday that Kang still needs to work with the town to make all the buildings on the property code-compliant before he expands the cannabis grow.

“This is not a pass to go ahead and start just ramping up,” Crocker told Kang. “You still don’t have the space that is code compliant with the building codes to operate any further than you are at this point. This (approval) is giving you the right to work on those buildings now for the grow operation.”