WILTON — The Select Board unanimously approved marijuana licensing fees for retail/medical marijuana stores and cultivators Tuesday.
The fees were formulated based on the average of those in Farmington, Jay and Wilton, according to a former version of the town’s ordinance.
There are different fees for the four tiers of cultivation facility types, categorized by the scale of the facility. The new fees are as follows:
• Retail/medical marijuana store, $1,333
• Manufacturing, processing or testing, $1,333
• Cultivation, tier 1, $667 indoor or outdoor, 0-500 square feet.
• Cultivation, tier 2, $1,667 indoor or outdoor, 501-2,000 square feet.
• Cultivation, tier 3, $3,500 indoor or outdoor, 2,001-7,000 square feet.
• Cultivation, tier 4, $7,500 indoor or outdoor, 7,001-30,000 square feet, $1,000 extra for each additional 7,000 square feet as allowed by state
The Select Board sets the fees, rather than voters, because of a change in the town’s marijuana ordinance at the June town meeting.
At the board’s Oct. 5 meeting, John Black, who owns a medical marijuana facility and retail store in Wilton, took issue with the idea of using a regional average.
He said the fees should be “based on actual numbers being proposed from the town” in regard to how much time the local departments spend overseeing the facilities. These local departments include town administration, the Police Department, the Fire Department and code enforcement.
In an interview following the meeting, Chairperson David Leavitt addressed these concerns and explained the fees are a starting point that can be reevaluated in a year or two after the town has a better understanding of the time it dedicates to monitoring the facilities.
The board also addressed another of Black’s concerns — that individual caregivers who sell and grow marijuana at their private residences are not required to register with the town under its current Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Ordinance. Under state law, individual caregivers are required to register with the state, but not with the local municipality.
“The state will say how many (registered caregivers) you have but will not tell you who they are,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish explained. “We can put (the requirement to register with the municipality) in (a new version of the ordinance) and hope they come forward but it’s not in our ordinance (or required by the state).”
Selectperson Keith Swett said he believes Wilton should be requiring individual caregivers to register with the town.
“Any business which is a store, whether it’s in your house or not, should be licensed with us. This business isn’t different from any other,” Swett said.
Irish told the board she was advised by Black that the state Office of Marijuana Policy’s Medical Marijuana Workgroup, of which he is a member, is looking into this issue.
“It will make it a lot easier once the state makes the changes to put it in town ordinance,” Irish said. “(The state laws) are very protective right now.”
In other business, state Rep. Randall Hall, R-Wilton, presented information on Franklin County’s referendum Question 2, which asks voters if they want to increase the number of county commissioners and districts from three to five.
Hall spoke in place of state Rep. Scott Landry, D-Farmington, and state Sen. Russell Black, R-Wilton, who were not able to attend the meeting.
Hall supports the increase, in part because northern Franklin County would be “properly represented.”
Sixty percent of Franklin’s revenue is from the northern part of the county, he said.
“(Northern Franklin County is) only represented by one person on the board and that person said he didn’t feel like he was getting a fair shake,” Hall said. “Getting two together on the board can control things.”
Hall addressed a concern brought up in New Sharon about how adding commissioners would affect the county budget. He said it’s been proposed that the $12,000 stipend each commissioner receives for 24 meetings a year can be pooled and split five ways.
However, Hall also acknowledged that county commissioners decide their salaries and the proposed stipend is not guaranteed.
“I fully support this … it would solve a lot of difficulties and problems, especially looking at how you have inadvertent quorum (with two commissioners),” Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri said. “(More commissioners) creates dialogue, (whereas 3) doesn’t bring diverse perspectives.”
The proposed redistricting is as follows:
• District 1, Chesterville and Jay.
• District 2, part of Farmington.
• District 3, Industry, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Strong and the rest of Farmington.
• District 4, Avon, Phillips, Temple and Wilton.
• District 5, other northern communities.
Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly stated how the districts would be split. The story has been updated for accuracy.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.