If approved, warrant article for June Town Meeting to be drafted

Mon, 03/20/2023 - 18:35

CAMDEN — The Select Board in Camden will hold a public hearing March 21 on amending its ordinances that would allow retail marijuana stores in specific districts. If the board finds in favor of moving the matter before the voters, it is to appear on Camden’s June 2023 Town Meeting warrant.

The proposed amendments were put forth from a business venture, Botany, owned by Mark Benjamin, of Camden. In a memo to the Town of Camden, he wrote that Botany, “is a high-end retail marijuana company with a grow operation in Hope, our first retail location in Rockland Maine, and a second store under construction in Belfast.”

The average age of his customers is 49, “your friends and neighbors,” he wrote.

Benjamin said the proposed store is what Camden needs – a locally-owned business in a cutting edge industry that supports, “relatively high-paying jobs.”

Camden Select Board
March 21, 6:30 p.m.
French Conference Room
Washington Street, Camden

Select Board meetings are broadcast live on Spectrum Cable TV channel 1303 and streamed live.

For those wishing to participate remotely, click here.

The agenda also includes discussion of a $11,500 donation from Save the Dam Falls Committee for Maintenance on the Montgomery Dam, and how to proceed with Camden Harbor breakwater conversations.

At the Select Board’s Tuesday evening public hearing, the town will discuss amendments that would allow up to two adult use retail or medical caregiver storefronts in certain locations in Camden. Permissible zones would be the Downtown Business District (B-1), the Transition Harbor Business District (B-TH) and the Transitional Business District (B-3).

If approved, new language would be added to the town’s existing marijuana ordinance, which governs cultivation and processing.

Camden’s Planning and Development Director Jeremy Martin said in a March 13 memo to the board that the Camden Planning Board held a public hearing March 1, which resulted in a split 2-2 vote recommendation to send the matter to the Select Board and on to the voters.

While two Planning Board members said the matter was worth putting to voters, two others said more information was needed about the ramifications of a retail marijuana store in town.

Martin said in his memo that if the Select Board decided to send the amendments to the Camden electorate, a warrant article would be drafted.

“If the Board decides not to send this to voters, the proposed amendments are effectively dead, and are not sent to voters,” wrote Martin.

The Select Board packet contains 12 letters from citizens raising questions about, or opposed to, the ordinance amendment. Read the packet here.

The proposed amendments follow:

AMEND CHAPTER 290 - TO PROVIDE FOR ADULT USE AND MEDICAL CAREGIVER RETAIL

N. MARIJUANA RETAIL STORE
Adult use or medical use retail marijuana stores, as set forth in M.R.S. Title 28-B (Adult Use Marijuana), M.R.S. Title22 c. 558-C (Medical Use Marijuana), and as said section(s) may be amended.

*Re-lettering of existing definitions N-T required*

ARTICLE VIII DISTRICT REGULATIONS
§ 290-8.8 Downtown Business District (B-1) https://ecode360.com/38270607#38270607

B (4) The Following Commercial Uses:

(r) Marijuana Retail Store

(1) The establishment must be set back a minimum of 500 feet from the boundary line of a lot containing a child-care facility, a day-care center (or nursery school), a public preschool program, a public school, or the Camden Public Library (Map 120 Lot 268)

(2) Applicant must have: (1) sufficient right, title and interest in the proposed premises of a marijuana retail store in approved districts; and (2) a conditional license from the State of Maine to receive planning board approval.

(3) No more than a combined total of two marijuana retail stores are permitted in the Downtown Business District (B-1), the Transitional Business District (B-3), and the Transitional Harbor Business District (B-TH).

(4) Application Procedure: Applications shall be processed on a first-come first- served basis. Complete applications, including proof of sufficient right, title and interest, shall be presented personally, in hand, by the applicant to the Codes and Planning Office.

§ 290-8.10 Transitional Business District (B-3) https://ecode360.com/38270746#38270746

B (4) The following Commercial Uses:

(o) Marijuana Retail Stores

§ 290-8.15 Transitional Harbor Business District (B-TH)

https://ecode360.com/38271058#38271058

B (4) The following Commercial Uses:

(p) Marijuana Retail Stores

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657