Pepperell Planning Board unanimously backs two-retailer marijuana bylaw cap

PEPPERELL — October 15, 2020 — Pepperell Planning Board votes unanimously to recommend a two-retailer cap on recreational marijuana establishments, sending a zoning bylaw fix to fall Town Meeting. Town Planner Andrew McLean explained that a misreading of state law had left the town legally authorized to issue only one marijuana retail permit despite having spent more than a year working with two applicants, Uma Flowers and NECC, through community outreach, host community agreements, and Cannabis Control Commission provisional licensing. The Board of Selectmen had voted 3-0 the previous evening to place the corrective article on the warrant. The proposed amendment to Section 6600 of the zoning bylaw would strip a confusing percentage-based formula tied to local liquor license counts and replace it with a flat limit of two retailers, language town counsel called "plain, simple." One resident, Elizabeth Baxson of 40 High Street, spoke in opposition, citing impacts on adolescents and calling the sequence of events a potential conflict of interest, and said she would propose a competing amendment at Town Meeting.