By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
The Town of Cazenovia Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is currently considering an application from CNY Hemp Processing, Inc. for a special use permit at 2069 Elm St., New Woodstock — the former site of New Woodstock Lumber Company.
With ZBA approval, Stephen Halton, CEO/founder of CNY Hemp Processing Inc., plans to open an industrial hemp processing facility and a storefront offering New York State hemp products/educational seminars.
Industrial hemp is a variety of the cannabis sativa plant species grown specifically for industrial uses.
It is one of fastest growing biomasses and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber around 10,000 years ago.
The plant can be refined into a variety of commercial and industrial products, including rope, paper, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food, and animal feed.
New York State is currently cultivating the industrial hemp market and supporting new opportunities to grow the crop.
Founded in 2017, CNY Hemp Processing is the fourth licensed hemp processor in New York State.
Initially operated out of a 5,700-square-foot facility in the Village of Canastota, the company aims to produce high quality hemp products at an affordable price; to build infrastructure and set standards for the hemp industry; to work closely with farmers; to find alternative uses for CBD waste; and to educate the public about the benefits and sustainability of hemp.
According to its website, CNY Hemp Processing purchases hemp from New York State farmers and processes the fiber to produce a number of high-grade products, including animal bedding, heat pellets, hemp seed oil and hair oil. Other products in development are a hemp animal feed, plant-based fertilizer, and biochar, which is a soil amendment.
The business uses 100 percent of the hemp plant.
Unlike most companies in the industry, CNY Hemp Processing does not produce CBD oil.
The processor’s operations are monitored by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and local code enforcement.
According to a March 12 press release, “The company stays at the forefront of the Hemp industry with education, research, [and] development while relying on regulators & lawmakers to keep us informed of the new Laws and regulations regarding the hemp industry . . . [We work] closely with farmers across the state & nation to keep our information up to date & current to real world situations. The industry is NEW & constantly evolving.”
CNY Hemp Processing has worked closely with SUNY Morrisville on several research projects. Halton currently helps teach the college’s cannabis industry minor.
In 2019, Halton received a license through the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets to grow industrial hemp, including CBD cultivars.
Eventually, he hopes to sell seedlings to help local farmers have a successful harvest and to encourage the expansion of the hemp industry.
Halton entered the industry with a background in agriculture and business.
“I’ve had a farm business since 2012,” Halton said. “I would do custom hay bailing for people, and that’s actually how I got into the hemp industry. I wanted to grow the textile-grade fiber, but when I went for that licensing, they said ‘That’s great, but there are no processors for it.’ Originally, I only wanted to do hemp processing part time. I had some customers who raised sheep and alpaca, which are fiber-bearing animals . . . I thought that in the spring, when they sheared, I could process their fiber, and then I could do hay in the summertime and hemp in the winter . . . However, being one of the first people in the state to do [hemp processing], it kind of took off and ended up being a little bit more of a full-time job than a part-time job.”
Proposed New Woodstock facility
Halton presented his preliminary plan for a hemp processing facility and storefront in New Woodstock at the ZBA’s Jan. 21 meeting.
During the first public hearing on the application, a number of Elm Street residents voiced concerns regarding the potential dust, noise, light, odor, traffic, and environmental impacts associated with the proposed business.
After considering the board’s input and the issues raised by the neighbors, Halton submitted a revised business plan to the ZBA for review on Feb. 24.
During the second meeting, the entrepreneur answered questions and received additional feedback from the board; addressed some of the residents’ concerns; and reported that he had abandoned his original plans to construct a greenhouse for seedlings and a research/development laboratory on the premises.
According to Halton, the processing facility would operate from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., while the storefront would be open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The storefront would offer a number of NYS-made hemp products, including two clothing lines, agricultural equipment, CBD oil, makeup, cosmetics, a skincare line, and hemp coffee.
The retail space would also offer educational seminars, some of which Halton hopes to present in partnership with the New Woodstock Regional Historical Society.
The applicant plans to store the dry hemp bales in an existing 3,000 square foot outbuilding previously used for lumber storage.
The hemp would be purchased once a year, around November, and processed throughout the winter months.
Halton anticipates that the business would create at least three jobs — one for the storefront and two for the processing area.
“[That’s] just to start out,” he said. “We want to make sure that the industry can keep up with us, so we don’t want to go too hard, too fast.”
According to Halton, the hemp processing would be odorless, use no chemicals, and produce no byproducts or waste.
“I’m trying to get the actual EPA rating as far as Dawn dish soap, because that’s basically all we use,” Halton said. “I do understand the [neighbors’] concerns with the creek behind us . . . but our processes don’t contaminate the soil. I would be more concerned about doing an oil and stone driveway, as far as polluting the soil, than I would be about my process . . . There were concerns at the last meeting about using CO2 or ethanol extraction, but we don’t do that type of process. I use a cold press, which just puts the hemp grains or seeds under pressure to release their oils. It’s actually a food-grade press that we use for the cosmetic industry . . . [Additionally,] there were concerns about spills or contamination with my oil. The oil is technically a fertilizer, so even if there were a spill, it would be a soil amendment versus any sort of a contamination.”
Halton plans to limit the amount of dust associated with the hemp processing by installing a dust-containment system.
He is currently in contact with the Buffalo-based company Schutte Hammermill.
“It’s hard to be able to judge the amount of dust that the machine produces, because it has to do with the hemp that you’re putting into it,” Halton said. “We’ve dabbled in the idea of misting the hemp down with water to control the dust . . . but a lot of it relies on what the farmer does . . . We’ve also contacted a local business about being able to use the millings — from when they mill the roads and concrete — for our driveway. That would work better than a driveway mix to handle the dust issues . . . When you lay it down, you can roll over it with a compactor and it creates a hard surface, which would limit the dust.”
Halton plans to mitigate the noise produced by the facility’s loudest machine, the decorticator (about 90 decibels), by installing insulation throughout the processing facility.
“Once we get the special use permit, then I would know what kind of insulation I am allowed to use under the town building codes,” Halton said. “ . . . I am more than happy to follow any standard that there is. Being [one of the first companies] in the United States that’s processing hemp fiber, there aren’t a lot of these tests done yet, so that’s been difficult . . . I don’t really have a cookie cutter design on it, so everything is being designed from scratch. Fromm humble beginnings as a farmer, I don’t really have this background, so I’m just trying to make sure I do this properly.”
According to Halton, the facility already has a small room with sound-controlling insulation and a basic dust collection system that could potentially be used to house the decorticator.
“I just have to make sure that it is up to the proper sound barrier code,” he said.
Halton has also been working on designs for a new decorticator that features insulated panels and a dust collection system inside the machine itself.
The zoning board will revisit CNY Hemp Processing’s application at its next meeting on March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cazenovia Town Office, 7 Albany St.
According to Halton, the company has already been contacted by two local high schools interested in arranging field trips to the facility to learn more about the emerging hemp industry.
“Without knowing what the proper building codes are for us or the regulations we have to follow — which I won’t know unless we get the special use permit — I can’t do any of the work that has to be done,” Halton said. “I would love to be able to open up the storefront to start doing seminars to educate a lot of people across New York State, but I can’t do that without the special use permit. Moving forward with the [permit] would benefit not only the company, but also [schools] and New York State agriculture and commerce.”
An open house for the general public will be scheduled soon.
To learn more about CNY Hemp Processing Inc., call 833-247-HEMP, email [email protected], or visit cnyhempprocessing.com.
