Cannabis entrepreneur Noah Eisendrath has cleared the final regulatory hurdle on his way to establishing the first marijuana-growing operation in Vineyard Haven, after the Tisbury planning board finalized his special permit Dec. 7.

“Congratulations, Noah. It might not have seemed like that would ever happen,” planning board chairman Ben Robinson told Mr. Eisendrath, whose company Main Street Medicinals received Martha’s Vineyard Commission approval last spring and passed the planning board’s review in late September.

Tisbury currently has one retail marijuana business, Island Time, which opened in the summer of 2021 on Mechanic street and sells cannabis products from the Fine Fettle growing operation in West Tisbury.

Main Street Medicinals will both grow and sell at its location, also on Mechanic street, the former site of an auto repair business.

Mr. Eisendrath plans to convert the existing sheet metal building, which currently has 7,448 square feet of space on a 4,900-square-foot footprint, to a nearly 8,000-square-foot facility for growing, packaging and retailing marijuana.

Main Street Medicinals also will produce cannabis candies, a process that doesn’t require open-flame cooking or produce waste grease, he told the planning board.

Wastewater from the growing operation will be collected in tanks and trucked off-Island for disposal, Mr. Eisendrath said.

Developers did not provide a timeline on project construction.

Also on Dec. 7, the planning board took some criticism from neighbors of the recently-approved affordable duplex on Leland avenue.

Jeannine Lenehan and Nancy Cohen said they were disappointed and disturbed by comments made last month during the board’s deliberations on the Leland avenue development, in which member Elaine Miller said she was voting in favor of relocating its driveway in order to placate neighbors and prevent hostility toward the new residents.

Ms. Cohen and Ms. Lenehan said the remarks didn't accurately represent the neighborhood’s support for affordable housing and have damaged its reputation.

“I have been stopped and questioned and forced to correct these statements,” Ms. Lenehan told the board.

“Keep in mind that you are a board of several people with meaningful thoughts and ideas, which makes it essential that no one voice should ring the loudest,” she said.