Council Subcommittee Seeks Delay in Creating Zoning for Medical Marijuana in Watertown

A Town Council subcommittee will seek to delay allowing a medical marijuana facility from coming to town for over a year so details of how they would be regulated and overseen can be worked out.

On Tuesday night, the Public Safety subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend that the full Council approve a temporary moratorium on zoning for medical marijuana treatment centers. If approved the moratorium could delay the changes to the zoning laws until as late as June 30, 2014. 

Right now, such a facility does not fit Watertown's zoning ordinances, said Steve Magoon, director of Economic Development and Planning.

"I would say they are not allowed. It is not in the list of uses in our zoning ordinances," Magoon said.

The town cannot prohibit dispensaries from coming to town. The Attorney General ruled that a zoning bylaw in Wakefield that prohibited such facilities was not legal.

During the moratorium the Council will be able to craft the new zoning and decide where a marijuana facility would be allowed, said Councilor Vincent Piccirilli, chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

The subcommittee did not go into an in depth discussion about where a dispensary would be allowed, but Piccirilli said could be a in an industrial zone, rather than in residential area.

While the town can't prevent a dispensary from coming into town, attorney Kay Doyle - who is adivsing the town on this issue, said if a dispensary cannot find an appropriate space in town it will count against it. Only a limited number of dispensaries will be approved by the state Department of Public Health.

"If (a dispensary) can't demonstrate that they meet local zoning laws it affects how the DPH views application," Doyle said.