Court rules against town's award of marijuana license
File photo
York County Superior Court Justice Richard Mulhern on March 30 granted a preliminary injunction forcing Old Orchard Beach to comply with the results of a local referendum scheduled for June 13 that would give residents a voice in determining a size limit for cannabis businesses.
A Superior Court judge has blocked a move by Old Orchard Beach officials to preemptively issue an adult-use marijuana license before voters weigh in at the polls during a June referendum.
York County Superior Court Justice Richard Mulhern on March 30 granted a preliminary injunction forcing the town to comply with the results of a local referendum scheduled for June 13 that would give residents a voice in determining a size limit for cannabis businesses.
Old Orchard Beach has had an adult-use cannabis ordinance in place since 2021 that allows a single business license to be granted on a first-come, first-served basis without any limits on the size of the parcel or structure.
Thomas Mourmouras and Priscilla Rowell, along with their business, Exit 7 LLC, filed a petition signed by 603 citizens with the town on Oct. 26 that sought to cap recreational marijuana businesses to land parcels of no more than 21,780 square feet, and buildings on those lots to no more than 1,000 square feet.
In response, town officials scheduled the June referendum but also decided to amend the cannabis ordinance to include a merit-based system to determine who should get the sole business license. The town accepted license applications between March 6-10 in an apparent bid to accelerate the review process so the one license granted would be awarded no later than May.
“When the Town Council scheduled a referendum vote at a future date which makes the vote effectively meaningless, it likely abused its discretion authorized by the Town Charter,” Mulhern wrote in his decision.
Mulhern also upheld a second count that finds the Town Council's Ordinance Amendments are invalid because they were "developed to favor a particular license applicant" of the three that applied: Exit 710, Old Orchard Provisions and an unnamed business.
"Through a complex web of attorneys and limited liability corporations, RBD, Inc. appears to be tied to Old Orchard Provisions, LLC, one of only two businesses in Old Orchard Beach to hold a provisional license from the state of Maine to sell recreational cannabis," according to a news release by Robinson Public Relations & Outreach on behalf of the plaintiffs.
"Town Hall’s apparent urgency to award a license before the referendum raised questions about process integrity when an ad placed by appeared in February in a local weekly paper, causing a stir on social media," the release said.
The ad effectively announced that "a 3,960 sq. foot retail marijuana facility" would be built in Old Orchard Beach, four times the size of the limit contemplated in the citizen referendum, and larger than any other adult-use marijuana facility in the state of Maine.
With the injunction in place, the town is temporarily prevented from awarding the adult-use marijuana license and the referendum will take place on June 13, an outcome that Mulhern wrote is “safeguarding the effectiveness of the petition and referendum process articulated in the Town Charter.”
“I am relieved that Judge Mulhern decided as he did,” said Thomas Mourmouras, one of two plaintiffs who asked the court to force the town to wait for referendum results before awarding its sole adult-use marijuana license. “The right of citizens to petition the government is fundamental, and the court affirmed that. If folks in Old Orchard Beach want marijuana stores to be small and discreet, we should be able to make our feelings known loud and clear.”
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments