Marijuana Options Head To Town Meeting In Mashpee

The decision Monday, which was unanimous, differs from how two communities adjacent to Mashpee have dealt with the situation, and comes on the heels of an amendment to the 2016 state ballot recently signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker Jr.

One article at Town Meeting in October would limit retail marijuana stores to 20 percent of the number of liquor stores in town, as the law allows. Mashpee currently has nine liquor stores so the town could only permit one store. If another liquor store opened in town, increasing the number to 10, a 20-percent limit would allow two marijuana stores to open.

Selectmen also proposed an article that would put a two-year moratorium on retail marijuana sales in the town.

If both articles were voted down, “it would be wide-open season,” selectman Andrew R. Gottlieb said at Monday’s meeting. Any number of marijuana stores could open in Mashpee.

Gov. Baker signed a compromise bill into law on July 28. The compromise bill addressed a dispute among lawmakers over local control of retail stores that would be allowed to sell recreational marijuana. The stores will be allowed to open starting next summer in Massachusetts communities that allow them.

Under the new legislation, cities and towns where voters backed the ballot question—more than 260 of the state’s 351 communities—could ban or restrict retail marijuana stores only through a local election. These communities include the four Outer Cape towns of Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and Eastham.

In communities where a majority of residents voted against the ballot question, which includes Mashpee and most of the rest of the Cape towns, selectmen must submit a bylaw to and gain passage at Town Meeting before imposing any restrictions. For restrictions to go into effect, voters must approve the bylaw with at least a two-thirds majority.

At the May town elections in Falmouth and Sandwich, voters approved explicit bans on the sale of marijuana in their respective towns.

Also in May, voters at Bourne Town Meeting approved of a moratorium that lasts until November 30, 2018—five months past July 1, 2018, the state’s implementation date for recreational marijuana retail sales.

While no selectmen came out in full support of allowing retail shops to open in Mashpee, they agreed that some sort of town bylaw or restrictions should be created before the bill turned into law. And October Town Meeting is the last available time to do so.

Selectman John J. Cahalane said that he wanted a two-year moratorium to allow for further clarity in the state’s law.Mr. Gottlieb said he was fine with the idea, but if voters turned that down, the town would have no protections for any number of stores opening in town. He proposed as a back-up to the moratorium to limit the sale of recreational marijuana in town.

A full ban, he said, likely would not pass if a moratorium did not, so he proposed an article that would limit the sale to 20 percent of the number of liquor stores in town. The selectman said that he did not want Mashpee to turn into “the wild west.”

Mr. Cahalane and others on the board liked the idea.

“If the first article fails, the people want it. We should have two [articles],” Mr. Cahalane said, referring to the 20-percent of liquor store option.

Mr. Cahalane said that he was personally against allowing retail marijuana stores in Mashpee.

Selectmen also considered limiting stores to an area already zoned for a medical marijuana store on Echo Road, as the law allows. But Mr. Cahalane said that he prefers limiting the number of marijuana stores based on the number of liquor stores.

Selectman began their discussion Monday when making final recommendations for the October Town Meeting warrant.

credit:capenews.net