WESTFIELD – The City Council will take up several issues related to the consumption, control and regulation of marijuana tonight, dealing with both medical and recreational marijuana use.
The Zoning, Planning & Development Committee has been reviewing two ordinances to regulate medical marijuana, one being a general ordinance that gives the Board of Health greater ability to control facilities dispensing or growing marijuana.
The second ordinance is a zoning regulation that would allow the Planning Board to review proposals to located the dispensing and growing facilities in the Industrial A district through a site plan process and in the Business B district by a special permit process.
The Planning Board approved giving the zoning ordinance a positive recommendation after amending it to increase the buffer zone in the Industrial A district from 500 to 700 feet.
The ZP&DS Committee further amended the buffer to 1,000 feet and has made recommendations to make other changes to address concerns that surfaced during its review of the two proposed ordinances.
Sgt. Eric Hall of the Westfield Police Department Community Policing division requested the city council to increase the fine of a civil ordinance violation for public consumption of marijuana from $25 to $100. That fine will also apply to the public consumption of medical marijuana.
The proposed ordinances restrict consumption of medical marijuana to people who have been authorized to use the drug through the state regulatory process and limits consumption to private residences. Consumption, even by state authorized persons, in motor vehicle or in public is prohibited by state law. The law was silent as to the fine for that violation.
The members of the council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee voted 3-0 to give that ordinance change a positive recommendation to allow enforcement by police as a non-criminal civil violation.
The ZP&D committee will refer the two proposed ordinances to the L&O tonight for the final review and resolution of the remaining issues and concerns. The final form of those ordinances will then be brought out for final action.
Last year the City Council approved a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation, but needs to have local regulations, the two ordinances, in place by May 1 when the moratorium expires.
The vote to increase the fine of a non-criminal civil violation for either public consumption possession to $100 could occur tonight.
