Brunswick to allow marijuana facilities in its ‘growth industrial’ zone
File Photo / Tim Greenway
The state is now accepting license applications for potential marijuana stores and related businesses.
Brunswick Town Council passed zoning amendments that will allow marijuana cultivation, product manufacturing and testing facilities, as well as stores in the town’s “Growth Industrial” zone, starting on Jan. 1.
The Times Record reported the council was split 5-4 in favor of the zoning changes.
The town has a licensing ordinance underway for the facilities, which will apply only to recreational marijuana uses. Zoning and uses for medical marijuana are being handled in a different amendment. But the council also voted to set a public hearing, on Nov. 5, to extend a moratorium on medical marijuana by one month to Jan. 1 so the various measures would “sync up,” Town Manager John Eldridge said.
‘No’ to marijuana social clubs
According to town documents, Brunswick voters have adopted several moratoriums on retail marijuana stores, facilities and social clubs, as well as on medical marijuana storefronts, in order to make time to carefully develop local regulations.
According to an October 2017 memorandum by the town’s committee evaluating Brunswick’s options following the November 2016 referendum approving recreational marijuana, the committee agreed it did not recommend marijuana social clubs.
“Since the sole purpose of these facilities is simply to provide a place for people to use marijuana, social clubs create a risk of impaired drivers because everybody must get home in some manner after using the marijuana,” the memo said.
The committee supported allowing retail marijuana cultivation, manufacturing and testing facilities, but only if the facilities were located in an industrial zone and not visible from a main road.
The committee didn’t want the facilities visible from main roads because it “does not want youth to be influenced by signs/presence of marijuana establishments and desires to support parents who want to live in a community where drug use is not advertised to their children,” the memo stated. “The committee wants to protect Brunswick’s image to visitors, prospective residents and employers.
The committee, however, didn’t achieve consensus on marijuana retail stores. A portion of the committee was willing to go along with a recommendation that they be allowed in industrial zones only, but other members didn’t support retail sales at all.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments