If approved at Town Meeting next week, Hopedale would break from the practice of its neighbors and allow retail marijuana shops to open in just certain areas of town.
Selectmen voted on Monday to back a Planning Board proposal to limit recreational pot stores to just industrially-zoned areas. Cultivation facilities, per the proposal, would be able to locate in areas zoned for manufacturing.
Both limitations should prevent those facilities from opening near schools or homes, said Katie Laughman of KP Law, the town’s legal counsel.
The proposal requires those seeking to open shops in the allowed areas to obtain a special permit from the town.
Town officials have not yet taken a stance on limiting the number of recreational marijuana shops that could open in those allowed areas.
Nearby towns have either banned or enacted a moratorium on recreational marijuana facilities, including Milford, Upton and Mendon.
