EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow’s Town Council quietly approved a zoning bylaw that effectively bans recreational marijuana in town.
After a brief public hearing, at which no one from the public stepped forward to speak in favor or against the zoning amendment, councilors unanimously passed the new zoning measure that prohibits the use, growth, cultivation and sale of recreational marijuana.
The new ordinance does not pertain to use of recreational marijuana in private homes.
“This reflects what the town wants,” George Kingston, chairman of the Planning Board, told councilors when he brought the measure before the panel. “We had no opposition to the proposed bylaw.”
The meeting to which Kingston referred took place at a room in the East Longmeadow Fire Department on Sept. 5. Nobody from the public offered comments in favor of, or opposing the bylaw at that meeting, footage of the meeting by East Longmeadow Community Access TV shows. The board voted to seek Town Council approval after less than 10 minutes of discussion.
The full content of the proposed bylaw was not read during that meeting.
The law that legalized the sale and use of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts allows elected officials -such as East Longmeadow’s Town Council- to enact bylaws banning recreational pot in towns where the majority of residents voted against legalization.
In East Longmeadow, the 9,335 people who voted on the ballot question cast ballots against the measure by a margin of 710 votes.
Voters in East Longmeadow in June favored a local ballot question that banned recreational marijuana facilities from opening in town by a landslide margin of 1,468 for the ban and 440 against.
The Planning Board bylaw is a “use” bylaw, which means it regulates the use of space in town, and prohibits the use of space for the purpose of using, cultivating or selling recreational marijuana, with the town’s building commissioner charged with enforcement.
The vote comes a little over a year after Massachusetts voters passed Question 4, which legalized possession, use, distribution and cultivation of marijuana in the state.
In July, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a compromise bill into law, which allows public officials in cities or towns who voted against Question 4 to opt out of the legalization of sales. It also allows cities and towns in which the majority of voters favored legalization to hold referendum votes to ban marijuana sales within the municipality.
Other surrounding communities have already placed bans or moratoriums on recreational marijuana establishments, which could open as soon as August 2018.
In Wilbraham, where voters last November rejected legalization by just over 1,100 votes, a pair of votes at Town Meeting in May prohibited all commercial enterprise involving the production or sale of pot that is not medical marijuana.
West Springfield, which voted against legalization by a margin of nearly 4 percent, in February approved a moratorium on marijuana facilities until Dec. 31, 2018.
credit:masslive.com