So Medical Pot Sites Are Allowed — Now What?
As the state evaluates nearly 200 applicants for up to 35 medical marijuana dispensaries, officials in many communities are scrambling to figure out just where they would allow them.
Many communities say the state hasn't given them enough time to determine zoning since the Department of Health and Human Services released its regulations in May, six months after voters made medical marijuana legal in a ballot referendum.
To avoid allowing a dispensary, many communities are imposing moratoriums until they can determine zoning. (The law mandates at least one dispensary, but no more than five, in each county.) Cities have final say over their ordinances, but town moratoriums and zoning changes must be approved by the attorney general.
As of Sept. 9, the attorney general's office had approved 57 moratoriums, including 16 in Central Massachusetts, with another nine pending in the region. Leicester is the only Central Massachusetts town asking for zoning approval. All communities in Central Massachusetts, except Worcester, have enacted or are pursuing moratoriums.
Milford and Westborough are the only Central Massachusetts communities to have zoning for registered marijuana dispensaries approved by the state so far.
However, the chances of Westborough getting a dispensary are slim, since the town chose to allow them in land on Route 9, on three parcels that were combined into one, owned by the Herb Chambers automobile dealerships chain.
“You just have to provide an area for (dispensaries),” said Town Planner Jim Robbins, “(That) doesn't mean you have to provide vacant land for it.”
In Milford, Town Planner Larry Dunkin said potential dispensary owners have almost 1,000 acres “to work with.” He said the area approved for the dispensaries is mainly along Interstate 495 and Fortune Boulevard, in two of if the town's industrial zones. The property lines for a dispensary must be at least 200 feet from those of a school, daycare, religious facility and similar locations.
“Why do you need a moratorium? It's obvious that the state has adopted the law. The people voted for it; they wanted it,” Dunkin said. “From the get go, we didn't see that it was that big a deal to come up with a proposed (zoning) amendment.”
Most communities with moratoriums have a year to zone for dispensaries.
Matthew Allen, executive director for the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, the group that pushed to get medical marijuana on the ballot, said the ideal locations for dispensaries are those easily accessible to the largest number of patients so that they don't have to travel for hours. He said locations near public transportation are most ideal. By that standard, so are communities that offer it.
Joel Fontane, director of planning and regulatory services for Worcester, said he believes the city will get one or two of the county's dispensaries.
“If you do the math for this … given our population, we'd get at least one. We'd probably get two because we're centrally located and we have a lot of good access to other areas, and we're a larger urban area within the county,” he said.
Fontane and the city's economic development director, Timothy McGourthy, recently presented their suggested zoning regulations for dispensaries to the Worcester Planning Board. The board was split with a 2-2 decision on approving the regulations because two members felt the suggested zoning was adequate, while two others wanted it expanded.
Fontane and McGourthy suggest the dispensaries be allowed in general business and manufacturing zones by special permit and in hospital zones by right. That way, dispensaries would be allowed in most higher-density areas of the city, — including downtown and major commercial and industrial clusters — while being restricted in residential neighborhood centers.
The city council will determine what action to take on the zoning suggestions and has the final say on their approval.
Worcester has also decided to be less stringent with buffer zones than the 500 feet the state would automatically require, opting instead for 300 feet.
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