Cloey Callahan is reporting for the Times Union that the town of Wawarsing Planning Board on March 15 gave the green light to Cresco Labs plan to build a $9-million 380,000-square-foot cannabis grow facility in Ulster County that promises to create hundreds of jobs. The approval process “went quicker than most projects,” said Ulster County Director of Economic Development Tim Weidemann. “It’s a model of what we should try to do for other big projects. We’ve seen so many of them get stuck in this process, and now we have a roadmap for others.” Cresco Labs will take over the former Schrade Knife and Avnet Channel Master facilities in Wawarsing for cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution on 91 acres that have been empty and unused for 17 years. The applicant for the cannabis facility is Valley Agriceuticals, which currently operates a medical cannabis manufacturing facility in Wallkill and four medical cannabis dispensaries across the state. Its parent company is Chicago-based Cresco Labs, which operates in 10 states nationwide where medical cannabis is legal. Cresco originally projected it would create 300 to 400 jobs at the processing plant, but increased that estimate to 679 future employees, according to the approved proposal. Cresco Labs must now work with the Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management to secure an adult-use license for a vertically integrated operation that includes cultivation, processing and distribution, but not sales. Construction of the facility could be completed within 12 to 18 months after all approvals. Read the full story in the Times Union.