Denver-based AmeriCann Inc. acquired a 53-acre site in Freetown for $4.475 million, where it intends to install a large marijuana cultivation facility. AmeriCann plans to build a 977,000-square-foot growing facility on the vacant Campanelli Drive parcel, previously owned by Boston Beer Co.

A group representing Massachusetts marijuana growers officially petitioned the Cannabis Control Commission last week to review and regulate the statutorily required agreements between marijuana businesses and their host towns, and says it plans to sue the commission if it does not act.

The CCC has wrestled with the issue of host community agreements (HCAs) for months as activists and business owners point to the required agreements as one reason for the slower-than-anticipated rollout of the retail marijuana market and as a barrier that’s keeping small businesses from establishing themselves in the new industry.

Because the CCC will not consider a license application until an HCA has been executed, businesses and advocates say municipalities are using the required agreements to extract more than 3 percent of the marijuana business’s gross sales, the cap in place under the law.

Earlier this month, the CCC agreed to formally request that the Legislature amend the law to explicitly give the commission the power to review and regulate the contracts. Peter Bernard, president of the Massachusetts Grower Advocacy Council, said the CCC should not have to request authority it has already been given.

“We see this as them kicking the can down the road, as the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy gave them permission quite publicly this past fall,” Bernard said, referring to comments from key lawmakers who said they disagreed with the CCC’s interpretation of the law. “The CCC’s request for clarity does nothing but let the HCA problem drag out, and a legislative fix may never come. The commission is acting on bad advice, and it is causing them to shirk their responsibility.”

The CCC said it is reviewing the Grower Advocacy Council’s petition and declined to comment beyond that. Previously, commissioners have said the authority of the CCC to regulate HCAs is unclear and that the agency should not move forward with reviewing or regulating them unless the legislature makes clear that it is empowered to do so.