Beacon Street Spot Picked For Marblehead Cannabis Dispensary

MARBLEHEAD, MA —It was almost all about location, location, location as the Marblehead Board of Selectmen voted to enter into a Community Host Agreement with Aro Cannabis to open the town's second retail dispensary.

Aro Cannabis, which had previously attempted to open a location on Atlantic Avenue, was chosen for the second of the town's two licenses at 222 Beacon Street over two other candidates seeking to sell marijuana on Atlantic Avenue.

"I believe that the Beacon Street location is the only site that can handle the parking and traffic issues," Board of Selectman Chair Jackie Belf-Becker said.

Board member Moses Grader expressed similar reasons behind his motion to pick Aro Cannabis as the license recipient after rejecting the company's previous bid to bring a second dispensary to town.

"The location up on Beacon Street is far less impactful on the community," Grader said.

Each applicant hosted a virtual community outreach meeting and had 10 minutes to make a final push during last week's Board of Selectmen meeting.

Aro Cannabis Chief Executive Officer Mark Schuparra said that while the owners were disappointed that the initial location had been rejected, they took to heart feedback that residents did not want the dispensary located too close to "pizza and ice cream shops" where children and teens are more likely to gather.

The 222 Beacon Street location is at the former A Dancer's Dream studio near the transfer station. It also prevents additional parking spaces lacking on Atlantic Avenue.

Flower & Soul's proposal was for a spot at 56 Atlantic Avenue while The Green Loft sought to move into 28 Atlantic Avenue.

Board of Selectmen members noted that the town had voted to allow dispensaries at 20 percent of the liquor licenses through a vote of town meeting members. Therefore, the job before them was to determine which dispensary was best for the town — not to relitigate the morality of marijuana or make judgments about whether dispensaries should be allowed in town in the first place.

"My vote has nothing to do with my feelings about cannabis," Belf-Becker said. "The debate over its legality is long over. This is about whether we prefer a location on or near Atlantic Avenue over Beason Street, or vice versa."

Board member Erin Noonan agreed that while the majority of the town meeting members voted in favor of legal marijuana, "there is a large segment of Marblehead that is not in favor."

The Board vote was unanimous.

As part of the Community Host Agreement, Aro Cannabis now has two years to secure a business occupancy license and open the new location.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)