Brookline To Set Up Cannabis Task Force

BROOKLINE, MA — After months of push back from a group of residents asking for more strict regulations on cannabis retail shops in town the select board announced it will set up a task force to look into how to distribute the community impact fee that marijuana retailers are required to pay the town.

"I'm proposing," said Select Board Chair Bernard Greene, "that we set up such a committee to look at our bylaws but also look at our expenditure of community impact funds and generally provide ongoing advice to the select board."

A group of residents in the Brookline Village area have brought forward issues; lack of parking, more litter than normal and an uptick in people urinating on their lawns they say is because of the adult-use recreational marijuana retailer that opened earlier this year at the corner of Washington and Route 9, they've also brought forward three proposals to more strictly regulate cannabis shops in town, including earlier closing times and moving to an appointment only model.

NETA is asking the town first make use of the more than $1 million in community impact fee it has paid.

That fee - 3 percent of what the retailer makes - is part of the license agreement the town has with retailers like New England Treatment Access (NETA) and Sanctuary. The state dictates that the money should go toward mitigating any issues that arise because of the business, but each municipality can decide what that looks like. While NETA has been paying the fee for months, the town is only now starting to look into how it will spend it.

Greene said Select Board Member Heather Hamilton has been asking about putting together a community task force and the board in generally have been discussing it.

"I suggest we prepare a charge for such a task force or committee for the next meeting and seek applications for membership," he said, adding applications will be online shortly.

The idea is that the committee be made up of residents and businesses from Brookline Village and Coolidge Corner - areas where marijuana licenses have been issued, along with representatives from the police, DPW, health department and the cannabis establishments themselves.

As for the Special Town Meeting warrant proposals set to come before the Select Board, Greene said the select board is pulling together facts based on the comments and feedback from neighbors regarding NETA's operations and the future of Sanctuary's operations. He said the board will discuss what they've learned at the Nov. 5 meeting and then vote on whether to support the Special Town Meeting warrants.

In December the board will hold a hearing for consideration of the renewal of the both NETA's and Sanctuary's licenses, which are up for renewal on Dec. 31, including any proposed changes.

"We'd like to make in those licenses based on facts that we have learned," said Greene.

Read this, too:

• Brookline Pushes For Special Town Meeting On Marijuana ...
• What To Do About Pot Shops In Brookline? Residents Push Back

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).