A second company that applied for Old Orchard Beach’s only recreational marijuana license is suing the town, alleging its ordinance was amended to favor a competitor and that it discriminates against non-Maine residents.

Old Orchard Provisions LLC, run by two Maine residents, Sean Bastin and Andrew Keeley, and one non-resident, John Hunt, filed its complaint in U.S. District Court on Friday. The company was one of three to apply for an adult-use license from Old Orchard Beach in March.

Town Manager Diane Asanza did not respond to a call and an email Friday evening. Old Orchard Beach has been working on its ordinance since 2021, when after months of meetings, the town passed its first ordinance that November that allows only one licensed adult use marijuana store within town limits.

The Town Council amended the ordinance in October 2022 to add more qualifying criteria before opening the application process in March. But a resident, Priscilla Rowell, filed a citizen’s petition that October to limit the size of the adult use marijuana store to less than 1,000 square feet, and the lot size to less than 21,780 square feet.

Rowell did not respond to a voicemail Friday evening to discuss her intentions for the petition. The petition went to a townwide referendum in June and was approved.

A month later, the town is still considering the applications. Old Orchard Provisions has asked a federal judge to pause the entire process while the court determines whether the new ordinance is constitutional.

This is not the town’s first challenge to the ordinance. Tom Mourmouras, president of Exit 710 LLC, a competitor of Old Orchard Provisions, sued the town in March alleging that the October amendments were an attempt to “move the goalpost” on his plans to open the town’s only adult use marijuana store.

When the original ordinance took effect nearly two years ago, Mourmouras said Friday, it called for a first-come, first-served process. He said his business was clearly the first one ready in February 2022.

However, the citizen’s referendum that passed suits Mourmouras’ business well. In its application, Exit 710 said it had a store lined up that was 800 square feet. Old Orchard Provisions applied with a store space that was 3,800 square feet, according to its complaint.

Old Orchard Provisions said the 1,000-square-foot restriction is irrational.

And so did city officials. According to the company’s complaint, the planning board said the amendment would make the ordinance “difficult to administer fairly” and that it could be interpreted to favor Mourmouras’ business over others. The Town Council later voted 4-0 against the citizen’s petition before it went to town voters.

“(T)he purpose of the Ordinance Amendment was to discriminate against non-residents such as OOP and to exclude them from the economic opportunities available to adult-use marijuana stores in Maine,” the complaint states. In turn, the whole ordinance now harms everyone “by arbitrarily limiting the universe of potential investors in Old Orchard Beach and by eliminating any competition for the only adult use marijuana store license in Old Orchard Beach.”

Mourmouras said Friday that after the June vote, town staff made sure none of the ordinance language violated federal laws meant to protect interstate commerce, which Old Orchard Provisions alleges are being violated.

“This is an extremely frivolous lawsuit,” Mourmouras said Friday.

In the months leading up to the election, the complaint alleges, Mourmouras and his business partners helped launch a Facebook page supporting Rowell’s petition. Their bio section stated “We Do Not Need Any Big, Out-of-State Owned Megastores in Town!”

In one of the page’s videos, Mourmouras touts his three-generation ties to Old Orchard Beach, and the local connections of his business partners. He said the election’s outcome would decide whether the town will have “an 800-square-feet boutique run by locals or a 4,000-square-feet megastore across the street from Dunkin’ Donuts run by a company with a majority of out-of-state ownership.”

The campaign page also posted a picture of Hunt’s Colorado driver’s license and alleged Bastin was a non-resident because he moved to Maine six years ago. Old Orchard Provisions’ attorney, Hannah King, said Bastin grew up in Pennsylvania.

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