Pepperell Planning Board postpones cannabis permit vote, seeks second legal opinion

PEPPERELL — May 3, 2021 — Pepperell Planning Board delays second cannabis permit vote, pursues outside legal opinion. The board, meeting remotely on May 3, postponed deliberation on a special permit application from New England Craft Cultivators until May 17 after an informal member poll showed the board unlikely to produce the four votes needed to find the town's recreational marijuana bylaw allows two retail establishments. The dispute centers on whether the town's cannabis cap — set at 20 percent of off-premises liquor licenses — is calculated from the eight licenses the state has allotted to Pepperell or the four the town has actively issued, yielding either two permits or one. NECC attorney Courtney Elgaard argued that Worcester, the state's second-largest city with a nearly identical ordinance, has always used the allotment model; attorney Filario Romano, representing already-permitted Luma Flowers LLC, countered that town officials told voters at a March special town meeting the current bylaw allows only one. Town Administrator Andrew McLean estimated a second legal opinion would cost roughly $1,000 to $2,000 from the town's legal budget.