WESTFIELD- The City Council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana facilities in the city at its June 6 meeting and must adopt local legislation to regulate that new industry by May 1, 2014 or until a local ordinance is put into place.
The citizens of the Commonwealth approved a referendum to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes and the law went into effect in January, before the state Department of Health could provide regulations to control establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries, marijuana growing facilities and other aspects of the new law.
The city cannot ban those facilities outright, but it can identify certain zoning districts and establish other requirements, such as 1,000-foot buffers from churches, schools and other institutions.
The Planning Board has been working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to develop appropriate zoning regulations. Board members continued a discussion on the proposed city ordinance to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, cultivation and process facilities with City Planner Jay Vinskey.
Vinskey, who is a member of the working group formed through the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), said the goal of the PVPC group is to produce a boilerplate of an ordinance which can be amended by local officials to address specific language requirements and concerns.
The work group includes the communities of Amherst, Holland, Holyoke, Westfield and Easthampton.
The work group has submitted a number of questions to the state Attorney General’s office for clarification as it develops a model ordinance.
Vinskey said the model ordinance, as amended locally, will regulate the square footage of the dispensaries, between 2,000 and 4,000 square feet, of cultivation and process centers, hours of operation, and siting of those facilities. The proposed ordinance will define the mechanics of zoning, the where and what of those facilities.
The Planning Board was slated to begin its formal review of the medical marijuana ordinance at its December 17 meeting which was cancelled because of snow. Vinskey said that the issue will be included on the January agenda and may require two sessions before the Planning Board votes on the proposed legislation which will then be referred to the City Council for its review, and eventually, approval before May 1 when the moratorium expires.
