AMHERST — Rules to govern recreational marijuana shops, including a possible cap on the number of establishments, and a potential year-long moratorium on the sale of legal cannabis, are expected to come before Town Meeting this fall.
The zoning subcommittee of the Planning Board is working with planning department staff to craft two warrant articles that Town Meeting members would consider when sessions convene in November.
In addition, Town Meeting may be asked to adopt two general bylaws centered on marijuana, one that imposes a local options sales tax of up to 3 percent, and the other that would prohibit public consumption of marijuana products.
When it meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Town Hall, the Select Board will hold a discussion on recreational marijuana to get feedback on how the town should approach sales of the product. Then, the Planning Board holds hearings on Tuesday on both the zoning bylaw amendment for recreational marijuana shops and a moratorium. That meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
In advance of the state allowing recreational marijuana sales beginning July 1, 2018, Planning Director Christine Brestrup said planners are drawing up language for a special permit process that would be overseen by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
“Essentially, it is mirroring regulations for medical marijuana,” Brestrup said.
The medical marijuana bylaw was adopted in November 2013, and limited medical marijuana dispensaries and treatment centers to the business, commercial and light industrial zoning districts. This zoning put 300-foot buffers in place from schools, day cares and libraries.
Brestrup said the proposed zoning bylaw would allow recreational marijuana sites in the same zoning districts as medical marijuana, with the possible exception of the office park district.
None of the four medical pot shops that sought approvals from the town has opened, though renovations to a building on Meadow Street are ongoing, with an anticipated opening later this year, said Economic Development Director Geoff Kravitz.
Retailers who want to operate recreational marijuana shops in the state must submit license applications starting April 1, 2018, so they can sell the product July 1.
Brestrup said the current thinking by Amherst officials is to have something on the books prior to that time.
“It’s a placeholder because we won’t have a clear understanding of the rules and regulations until March,” Brestrup said.
She noted that the state’s Cannabis Control Commission isn’t required to have its regulations finished until March 15.
Still, Kravitz said, having a zoning bylaw in place will be important, and the town can address marijuana cultivation and testing facilities later.
“The only local control we’re pretty sure we have is whatever location is allowed by zoning,” Kravitz said.
The article adopted may have to be tweaked through amendments, possibly at annual Town Meeting next spring, or at a later special Town Meeting.
With Amherst residents voting overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing marijuana, there is a sense that many will want to have the town permit sales as soon as legally allowable. But a backup article is being drafted that would impose a moratorium on sales in town until Dec. 31, 2018, or “until such time as the town adopts zoning bylaw amendments that regulate retail marijuana establishments.” This would give the town a few months to develop the appropriate zoning amendments, Brestrup said.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said it will be important to know how welcoming Amherst should be to recreational marijuana shops, and how soon they should be allowed to open.
Kravitz said feedback will be essential to learn what changes to the bylaw are acceptable, and have residents offer advice about the moratorium should Town Meeting not agree to a zoning amendment.
“It is an option that we want the public to be aware of,” Kravitz said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.