West Newbury planning board unanimously recommends marijuana overlay district for downtown business zone

The West Newbury Planning Board voted unanimously on March 17 to recommend creating a Marijuana Overlay District (MOD) in the town’s business zone, forwarding the proposed zoning language to town meeting. The overlay would cover about 12 acres of downtown commercially zoned parcels and would allow medical and adult‑use marijuana establishments subject to local rules.

The board’s recommendation follows presentations from staff that the town voted in 2016 to allow marijuana establishments but never adopted detailed local zoning that would control where such businesses could locate. “With lacking a bylaw, I just have to treat it as retail,” said Sam, the town’s building commissioner, explaining that without a specific cannabis zoning rule an applicant might be processed the same as any other retail use.

Why it matters: the proposal sets a 250‑foot straight‑line setback from any pre‑existing public or private school providing K–12 education and explicitly includes preschools and licensed child‑care facilities in that distance measurement. Board members said they chose 250 feet rather than the 500‑foot default cited in some state guidance so the town retains usable commercial acreage; a 500‑foot buffer would effectively eliminate the town’s narrow business zone, they said.

Residents who called in offered mixed feedback. A resident at 12 Maple Street opposed siting a retail cannabis establishment near her home because of required security lighting and neighborhood impacts. Katherine Marone of 251 River Road asked whether the 2016 ballot vote required the town to designate an overlay; board members and the building commissioner clarified that the town must adopt zoning language to establish where cannabis establishments can operate and that the overlay is intended to provide that control.

The planning board also heard that the select board was exploring a ballot-and‑warrant approach that could, if approved by voters, prohibit retail cannabis locally. Wendy Reid, chair of the select board, said town counsel had identified an option to pair a town‑meeting article with a ballot question on retail cannabis; planning board members said they would keep the bylaw process in place so the town would retain regulatory options regardless of the ballot outcome.

Action taken: Chair Anne Bardin moved that the board recommend approval of the proposed marijuana overlay bylaw to town meeting; the motion carried 5–0 (Anne Bardin, Ray Cook, Deb Hamilton, Brian Murphy, Rob Phillips voting in favor). The recommendation does not itself adopt zoning — it sends the proposal as a recommendation to the town meeting and, as applicable, to any ballot process.

Next steps: The article will appear on the town meeting warrant per normal zoning procedures; the select board may pursue a ballot question in parallel, and the planning board said it would keep working with town counsel and staff to clarify maps, setback measurements and any informational outreach.