A plan to delay the opening of any recreational marijuana facility for one year made it through the first legislative step but still needs more study before it is adopted.
The City Council’s Zoning Committee approved the plan to wait at least a year before granting any permit to open a facility in the city. The City Council then voted 13-0 on Wednesday to send the proposal to its Ordinance Committee so the regulations could be drafted. The full City Council will have to take a final vote on the ordinance when it is created.
“We want to make sure there will not be mom and pop shops, or mom and pot shops, popping up on every corner,” City Councilor Shane D. Brooks said.
In November voters passed a ballot question that legalizes recreational marijuana. In December it became legal for people to smoke marijuana on private property and grow up to six plants per person or 12 per household. However, the state still has not developed regulations to open retail stores for recreational marijuana.
Brooks said the moratorium is necessary to give city officials time to figure out how to permit and regulate retail shops, especially since the state has not set any rules yet.
“You are walking into this great unknown,” he said.
Recently Brooks said he learned there are now companies which residents can hire to set up lights and offer technical advice for people who want to grow their own marijuana plants. That concerns him because the lights can use a large amount of electricity and also can create a fire safety hazard.
“We want to make sure people are doing it right and safely,” Councilor William Courchesne said.
That information prompted councilors to ask that a representative from the Police and Fire departments attend the ordinance committee meeting to give councilors advice.
The attempts to regulate recreational marijuana will not affect the current city rules governing medical marijuana, Brooks said.Mass Alternative Care Inc. has received permits to build the medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation center on East Main Street.
The city has already granted a permit to Mass Alternative Care which will allow owners to build a marijuana clinic and grow facility on East Main Street. The company is still negotiating to buy the building.
City Councilor Adam D. Lamontagne, who initially voted against the moratorium saying it was too long and too strict especially since voters approved the ballot question, said he has changed his mind and will support a one-year moratorium.
“I’ve had a change of heart. There are too many loose ends on this,” he said.
credit:masslive.com
