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West Newbury town manager outlines voters’ choices on cannabis regulation and prohibition
Summary
Town manager Angus Chenings explained options before voters: a proposed town meeting bylaw to regulate cultivation, processing and retail, and a separate May 4 ballot question placed by the select board that would prohibit recreational cannabis uses if both town meeting and ballot approve it.
Angus Chenings, West Newbury town manager, recorded a briefing explaining options residents will face on two upcoming votes on cannabis: a proposed regulatory bylaw at the April 27 town meeting and a separate ballot question on May 4 that would prohibit recreational cannabis uses.
Chenings said the difference matters because West Newbury voted in favor of a 2016 statewide referendum that legalized recreational cannabis in Massachusetts. "Because the voters in 2016 in West Newbury ... a majority voted in favor of legalization," he said, and that local prohibition requires a two-step process: approval at town meeting and approval at the ballot box.
He described the current situation: "Right now, today, cannabis uses are allowed in the town of West Newbury, and they're not subject to any regulation beyond zoning," Chenings said, adding that no active proposals for new cannabis operations have appeared in recent years.
The town meeting article before residents would adopt a bylaw to regulate three categories of recreational uses—cultivation, processing and retail—creating "additional protections in place that are not exist[ing] today," Chenings said. In parallel, the select board placed a ballot article that, if approved by voters on May 4 and endorsed by town meeting, would have the effect of prohibiting those same uses.
Chenings said the town is recommending that town meeting "approve the bylaw to regulate," because adopting regulations would put protections in place even if the ballot prohibition fails. He explained the select board placed the prohibition question "for the purpose of giving the residents the option," and emphasized that the select board and his office will not advocate for how residents should vote at the ballot box: "With regard to a ballot vote, that is a different set of mass general law and it is not lawful to put public resources toward advocating one way or the other."
The briefing advised residents to review materials posted on the town website for more detail ahead of the April 27 town meeting and the May 4 election. Chenings closed by thanking residents for their interest and urging them to consult the posted information before voting.
The town meeting on April 27 will consider the regulatory bylaw; the ballot question that could prohibit recreational cannabis uses is scheduled for May 4.
