OXFORD — Voters will decide Jan. 4 whether they want a 180-day moratorium on retail marijuana-related activities.

Selectmen voted unanimously and without comment at the Dec. 7 meeting to hold the special town meeting during a regular selectmen meeting. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Office.

If approved, the moratorium will mean that during that time no application related to the establishment or operation of a business or retail marijuana establishment and/or retail marijuana social club can be accepted, processed or acted on for any approval, including but not limited to a license, building permit, certificate of occupancy, site plan review, conditional use, or any other approval by the town.

The moratorium would expire after 180 days, if an extension is not approved or a more permanent solution, such as an outright prohibition, is OK’d.

The move to put a moratorium in place was recommended by a committee set up by the Board of Selectmen on Oct. 5 to review the need for an ordinance or regulations on retail marijuana establishments and social clubs, after concerns were raised by residents and officials following Maine’s legalization of recreational marijuana in November 2016.

Peter Laverdiere chairs the committee and the Board of Selectmen. Other members include residents Roger Wulleman and Rosemary Nicklaus, Town Manager Butch Asselin, Fire Chief Gary Sacco, Town Clerk Elizabeth Olsen, SAD 17 board of directors Chairman Ronald Kugell and Planning Board member Dana Dillingham.

Concerns are for public safety and welfare, including, but not limited to, the potential adverse effects on neighborhoods, security of the facilities, and odors that may create a public nuisance or hazard, according to the moratorium.

It is also being addressed because of an increasing number of requests to establish grow facilities and the fact that the town’s existing ordinances do not provide an adequate mechanism to regulate and control the location and operation of retail marijuana establishments and retail marijuana social clubs, according to the moratorium.

If Oxford voters say yes to the moratorium, the town will join Freeport, Bangor, Portland, Brewer, Gray and Westbrook and other cities and towns across the state that have implemented or considered temporary bans on businesses that could open as soon as state legislators work out issues being debated in the retail recreational marijuana legislation.

On Nov. 8, 2016, Maine voters approved Question 1 and joined eight other states to legalize the recreational use, retail sale and taxation of marijuana. On Jan. 27, 2017, the Legislature placed a moratorium on certain parts of the law regarding retail sales and taxation until at least February 2018.

Towns can regulate the number, location and operation of retail marijuana stores, cultivation, manufacturing and testing facilities and social clubs, and can impose a local licensing requirement. As with alcohol sales, cities and towns can vote on whether or not to be a “dry town,” regarding marijuana retail establishments and social clubs.

Private marijuana possession and growing will still be allowed under current state law even in towns that ban retail businesses.

The portion of the law that allows persons older than 21 to grow six mature plants and possess 2½ ounces became effective Jan. 30, 2017. Regardless of these changes to Maine law, marijuana is still illegal on the federal level.

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