There are misleading ads and literature circulating about where retail adult-use marijuana retail stores may be sited in Newton. There are only a few sites that have been approved by Zoning and Planning for the Planning Department.
On September 18, 2018, Zoning and Planning addressed docket #376-18 Zoning Amendments for Recreational Marijuana Establishments.
THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT requesting amendments to the Newton Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 30, to regulate the use of land, structures and buildings for the operation of marijuana establishments; to determine in which zoning districts and under what conditions marijuana establishments will be allowed; and to establish minimum standards and criteria.
The Draft Zoning Ordinance includes a map of the few areas that qualify for siting an adult-use retail marijuana store in Newton. It also includes the proposed standards and additional special permit criteria that these stores must meet.
The Zones being proposed for both Retail Marijuana and RMDs are the BU2, BU5, Business 4 (BU4), and Mixed Use 1 (MU1) (Attachment B). These zones are being proposed for the following reasons:
The BU2 zone is generally located along commercial strips or nodes outside of village centers.
The BU5 zone is primarily located along the western edge of the City and both BU2 and BU5 currently allow medical marijuana dispensaries.
The BU4 zone includes The Square and The Street in Chestnut Hill as well as a couple other properties adjacent to Riverside and in Newton Corner. These locations provide regional access at the edges of the City, are mostly outside of village centers, and still maintain a high level of activity to contribute to a sense of safety.
The Mixed Use 1 (MU1) zone is located along the north and southeast portion of Needham Street and is outside the village center, is mostly buffered from residential uses and still maintains vehicular and pedestrian activity. The MU1 zone currently prohibits retail establishments with less than 5,000 square feet, however in order to avoid very large destination marijuana establishments, RMDs and retail marijuana will be exempt from this provision and will be limited to a maximum of 5,000 square feet in all zones.
Newton’s elected “leaders” clearly missed the message of the 2016 law which instructed them to “regulate marijuana like alcohol.” Their arrogance is a disgrace to the democratic process.
Can you post a map of where these proposed zoning locations would be located? It’s difficult to visualize with these descriptions. Most of us don’t really know where BU, MU, etc are located.
Go to page 20 of this document: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/91739/09-24-18%20Agenda%20w%20attachments.pdf
Thank you Amy this is very helpful.
The map is on page 20 of the zoning ordinance – the link is in the post.
@Marti why don’t you post the relevant proposed zoning map above instead of the photo of the Lightshade store? That would be easier than scrolling through these long reports and trying to figure out which map is relevant.
Thanks Sarah. Good idea. Done.
As is evident by the map above, there are very few areas that have been zoned for locating retail marijuana stores. Many are on the outskirts of Newton. None are in village centers.
The regulations include a half mile buffer between stores but very few locations are close together. The circle around Garden Remedies eliminates several locations.
I have requested zoning and planning and the planning department not site one in the orange area very close to the circle around GR. It still seems too close to me.
Additionally there will be a half-mile buffer around the Eliot Street location.
The inclusion of shops in Business 2 districts is based on an outmoded concept of that zone. The Elliot Street location is already one of traffic intensive uses, the Route 9 intersection, the gas station, the CVS etc. To add the traffic impact of a successful shop would put rendous burden on a location that is already difficult to traverse. Similarly the Beacon Street location on the fringe of the Four Corners Shopping District bears the traffic burdens of a newly enlarged elementary school as well as the traffic generation of the Farmer’s Market through much of the year. As the map shows, there are Business 2 locations scattered throughout Upper Falls and probably in most of the other working class sections of the city. Manufacturing Districts are also in locations that would impact the descendants of the original factory workers,
It makes more sense to allow shops in areas that have excess capacity. The stores on Needham Street that are empty of all but pictures of customers and Welles Avenue need the customers that shops would bring.
This is a critical planning issue. The city should not follow the patterns of the dead past but should be creative in matching up holes in the economic fabric of the city with the likely demand to be generated by the new shops.
No recreational marijuana shops should be located in the Business 2 and Manufacturing Districts.
Brian Yates
30 Year Member, Zoning and Planning Committee Member