FREEPORT
A six-month moratorium on recreational marijuana shops and social clubs is now in place in Freeport, following a Town Council vote Tuesday.
In December, the council enacted a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana production facilities.
Both delays will give the Freeport Planning Board time to review zoning ordinances and zoning maps to determine where a grow facility or social club could be.
Statewide and in Freeport on Nov. 8, voters approved referendum Question 1, making recreational pot legal, taxable and subject to local ordinance.
The council has the final say on opening a retail or medical marijuana sale or production site, Council Chairwoman Sarah Tracy said.
“Our intent is to make sure we have the adequate mechanism in place,” Tracy said in a phone interview, “so we know what’s at stake and how to handle it.”
One issue, Town Manager Peter Joseph said, is if the council will write separate ordinances for medical and recreational marijuana. Or, go solely with recreational marijuana.
The Planning Board and Town Council may meet early in February to discuss this and other ordinance concerns, Joseph said.
There are no legal marijuana regulations on the town’s books now. The moratorium will give time to study and determine the next step.
“This would allow us to get everything in place,” Joseph said.
Meanwhile, other Maine towns are adopting similar moratoriums, including Brunswick. Moratoriums can be extended too.
How voter-approved legalization of marijuana will be implemented and revenue regulated remains the challenge for elected Maine officials. So too in Massachusetts, whose voters also on Nov. 8 approved recreational marijuana use.
lconnell@timesrecord.com
Other communities
• BRUNSWICK in November 2016 approved a moratorium banning recreational marijuana shops and social clubs
• TOPSHAM residents at the May 2017 town meeting may consider a recreational pot moratorium
• HARPSWELL is surveying residents on on recreational marijuana establishments
• BOWDOINHAM residents attended a special town meeting Dec. 14 and enacted a moratorium ordinance regarding recreational marijuana retail establishments and social clubs
• RICHMOND will hold a special town meeting Jan. 18 to vote on a moratorium
• LISBON Town Councilors unanimously rejected a proposed medical marijuana ordinance regulating placement of dispensaries
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