At the end of 2018, the City Council voted on zoning for recreational cannabis stores in only one meeting because the moratorium was expiring at the end of the year and they needed to have something in place before the expiration. There were many concerns expressed by city councilors about some of the particulars, such as store size, zoning near village centers, whether or not stores should be appointment-only, etc., but because of the deadline, they agreed to approve the zoning proposal that was on the table, and re-look at it during zoning re-design. However, Zoning re-design has been delayed into 2020, so there has been no discussion since then. Meanwhile most of the licenses are likely to be taken by then under the “temporary” zoning regime, which allows stores to be up to 5000 square feet, and located in retail zones that are mostly outside of village centers (with some exceptions like parts of Newton Center), but still in heavily trafficked areas.
Current applicants with provisional approval are two locations on Washington Street in Newtonville and West Newton, one in Newton 4 Corners, one at Route 9/Eliot St., one on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill next to the Wegman’s shopping center, and one on Rumford Ave. Most are at or near the 5000 square foot limit. Do those locations make sense? Should we stay with that zoning or fine-tune it?
Yes these locations make sense. Yes we should stick with current siting plans. “Fine tune” means restrict. The voters of Newton have voted multiple times now against restricting. Enough said. Let’s move on to more meaningful topics like why our streets and sidewalks are not getting paved and why our teachers are not getting paid.
I agree with Gerry. Leave it be.
Marijuana stores should be located anywhere where there’s availability. Locations in village centers would encourage more foot traffic so honestly I’d like to see then in village centers. But anywhere is fine. Let’s not “fine tune” anything.
Good grief! If we’re so rankled about non-resident traffic that we don’t want them to shop here, just build a moat around the city and stock it with snakes and alligators.
It’s (past time) time to stop gnashing our teeth about retail marijuana. Voters have repeatedly supported this and these tightly regulated stores themselves do no harm to abutters but do generate tax revenue and jobs. Let’s move on.
I think it is a legitimate question. But I think it should be regulated like alcohol. Folks shouldn’t be so flippant on zoning just bc they support pot stores in general….
I do think in the first year it made sense to be careful about siting to avoid the Brookline village crowd issue. Enough stores are opening now I doubt that is still a huge concern.
Thanks for posting. Retail location in village centers would bring much needed foot traffic. People may stay for lunch or dinner or get a coffee while they’re there to buy marijuana.
From most reports, the Garden Remedies location hasn’t had many troubles for neighbors. However, they are a moderately sized (approx. 2000 sf) store with a requirement for appointments only. We should learn from that and require similar sized stores (not the 5000 sf new applicants are asking for) with appointments only if we don’t want long lines on the sidewalk all day, every day and public smoking like they have at NETA in Brookline.
Size limitations and appointment only was largely implemented to mitigate anticipated concerns expressed by Opt Out folks. For the most part, those issues have not been seen. Now one could argue that is due to the fact that restrictions where put in place. But it is just as likely that these concerns were never going to to be realized.
And it would seem that more stores, and even larger stores would result in dispersing demand not increasing it.
I agree with Fignewtonvile that this is a legitimate question.
The zoning plan we have now for pot shops was rushed out of the City Council because without approval of zoning rules for pot shops those entrepreneurs would have been able to locate anywhere (as long as they were 500 feet from schools).
Likewise the 5,000 square foot size was a quick punt that Councilor Albright said would — among with the rest of the zoning for pot shops—be revisited and reviewed within a few months.
But that review has never happened.
A number of sites now zoned for pot shops are poor choices. It’s past time to revisit the map.
For example the areas zoned for Manufacturing — which were omitted from the zoning of pot shops— might be opened up in a way that would allow for clustered shops, especially for Economic Empowerment candidates who cannot afford the pricier locations now zoned for pot shops that entrepreneurs with seemingly limitless cash resources will dominate.
In fact, since we already have plenty of pot shop HCAs awarded to big money operators, Newton should follow the lead of Cambridge and advance the social justice agenda by passing a preference measure for the remaining HCAs and, over the next 3 years, reserve them for social justice licensees.
And, while we’re on this topic, since the appointments regime has worked well at Garden Remedies and avoided traffic problems without discomfiting patrons, that requirement should be passed as a City ordinance to be universally in place, rather than spending hours and hours in committee and on the floor of the City Council negotiating that simple, common sense regulation over and over again with every special permit.
@Abe Zoe – “For example the areas zoned for Manufacturing — which were omitted from the zoning of pot shops— might be opened up in a way that would allow for clustered shops, especially for Economic Empowerment candidates who cannot afford the pricier locations now zoned for pot shops that entrepreneurs with seemingly limitless cash resources will dominate.” – I think that’s a great idea.
” appointments regime ….to be universally in place – No, I think that thwarts the spirit, if not the letter, of the state law. There are no other retail stores that are required to schedule their customers by appointment. As Claire pointed out that restriction was passed as a temporary measure to calm fears of what might have happened when the stores initially opened. Now that they are up and running I don’t see any need to perpetuate that very odd and onerous retail regulation.
So… 4 on the North side and one on Rt 9.
That sounds evenly spread across the City, right V14?
This isn’t ANOTHER example of inequitable treatment of North and South, that’s just me being paranoid, right?
It’s just you gotta put the pot stores where the riffraff- er, high density is, right?
Jerry —Frankly I don’t see a reason to call it “onerous” when people can set up appointments in their smart phones in a trice.
On the contrary, since appointments only has worked, it should be maintained to maintain community calm as the number of pot shops expands and they fan out all across the City abutting more residential areas (like Ascend’s proposed location) and busy intersections (like Rt 9).
Glad you support opening Manufacturing zones. Do you agree Newton should do its part to preference social equity candidates?
Good point, Paul. To much falls on the heads of residents!!
Sorry. The word “northside” was missing.
Too much falls on the heads is northside residents
You folks trying to turn this into a northside vs southside argument don’t know what you’re talking about. There are 3 dispensaries lined up for each side of the city. The northside has 2 on Washington St and 1 on Rumford Ave. The southside has 2 on Rte 9 and 1 in Four Corners. Hopefully we’ll soon learn the locations of at least 2 other dispensaries Newton must site by law for a minimum of 8, and hopefully they’ll be near village centers to encourage foot traffic. But as I wrote earlier, this ship has sailed, except for those who can’t accept reality. Time to move on!
I don’t know why a progressive city like Newton can’t figure out how to prioritize licenses for social equity applicants when Cambridge, Boston in Somerville have already figured that out. Instead, the mayor is giving out licenses for enormous stores to politically connected applicants with big money investors rather than opening up the city to less well-capitalized minority entrepreneurs. Opening up less expensive manufacturing zones for affordable stores for these applicants would be one step in the right direction.
Where are liquor stores zoned to be?
Probably we can use the same formula for pot shops.
People voted [several times] to “regulate marijuana like alcohol.” It’s really very simple. The zoning regulations for cannabis shops should be the same as they are for liquor stores. Requiring an appointment to visit a cannabis shop is an absurd restriction, not applied to any other retail business in Newton. We should be welcoming these new businesses, not making it even more difficult for them to locate in Newton.
Hi Abe,
Thanks for making the case why appointments need to be scrapped. How often is Garden Remedies fully booked in an average week? I’ve looked at their reservation calendar a few times since they went recreational — after the first week or two, no time slots ever filled up, not even peak hours on weekends. We agree the store generates relatively little traffic.
Since GR’s reservation records show the place doesn’t fill up, appointments are not needed. That information should also help guide Councilors what to expect with new stores. While other stores will be bigger, they compensate with sizable parking lots.
Let’s stop the hand-wringing and trying to solve for problems that don’t exist, and have some of these stores open already!
Hi Dulles- In my view the points you make are exactly why keeping appointments makes sense and is no impediment to customers. It ain’t broke, so don’t try to fix it.
I guess we just have to agree to disagree….
Some Brookline residents are now asking their city to require appointments for pot shops, looking at Newton as an example: https://patch.com/massachusetts/brookline/what-do-pot-shops-brookline-residents-push-back
It looks like citizens in Brookline are asking their Select Board to follow Newton’s lead and institute appointment-only for their cannabis stores because of all the problems that they are having with NETA on route 9. https://patch.com/massachusetts/brookline/what-do-pot-shops-brookline-residents-push-back