Cannabis sales lead Planning Board agenda

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
April 26th 2023

RICHMOND – Planning Board members discussed amendments to the town ordinance regulating marijuana businesses at Tuesday’s meeting.

State legislation, passed in May, 2022, legalized recreational marijuana use, and in November of that same year, Richmond voters approved a ballot measure which would allow retail sales of recreational marijuana in the town.

Town Planner Shaun Lacey proposed changes to the use table pertaining to retail cannabis sales.

“What we’re proposing tonight would be that, for cannabis retailers, the sales of cannabis products, we’re making a recommendation that those uses be permitted in the ‘General business’ zone, ‘light industrial,’ ‘industrial,’ and the ‘PUD VC’ [Planned Unit Development-Village Center] zone,” he said.

Lacey noted that the use table for recreational marijuana businesses will align with the use table for medical marijuana.

The use codes for “compassion center” and “commercial cultivation” would be replaced by new codes: “cannabis business” and “cannabis retail.”

Board Chair Philip Damicis noted that it appeared that there would be no distinction between medical and recreational cannabis.

Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth replied that there was a difference between the two uses, but she added,

“Practically speaking, retailers are going to be able to sell both, so it’s only a distinction in the sense that some people are going to have medical marijuana cards and buy medical marijuana, and other people who are just going to buy recreational marijuana, and I think it’s probably going to depend on which one’s cheaper. If you use medical marijuana and the recreational is cheaper, you’re going to buy that.”

Damicis asked whether compassion centers would continue to exist under the new state law. Ellsworth said she doubted it, but she noted that the recreational marijuana legislation requires the creation of a new commission to regulate marijuana, which is currently under the authority of the Department of Business Regulation.

“The complete changeover of the system is not going to happen for a couple of years, so I’d be a little uncomfortable in recommending that you send anything to the Town Council until you’ve seen the regulations, because it’s possible the regulations will make distinctions between different types of cannabis uses that the statute doesn’t, and the commission will have the authority to make those distinctions to add to the state law,” she said.

Members discussed the PUD-VC zone, which was created in 2002 for a large-scale mixed - use development at Richmond Commons that was never constructed.

“I think the PUD-VC really does not serve any purpose any longer,” Ellsworth said.

Damicis agreed.

The town’s only cannabis grower, Coastal Farms on Kingstown Road, has applied to the Town Council twice, without success, for ordinance amendments which would allow the facility to sell marijuana.

Board members went through the uses in the table and agreed on the following uses for cannabis retailers:

Cannabis businesses, including eventual retailers in addition to cultivators, will remain prohibited in all three of the town’s residential zones, and the neighborhood business zone.

They will be permitted in the general business, light industrial and industrial zones. They will not be permitted in the planned development zone, but will be permitted in the PUD-VC zone where the town’s only cultivator is located.

Cannabis businesses will remain prohibited in the flex tech and Shannock Village zones. They will also be prohibited in the agricultural overlay district, and in the conservation-open space zone.

The board is also waiting for the state to release its official definition of the term, “cannabis business,” because the town will have to use that definition in its ordinances.

Board member Daniel Madnick made a motion to provide the board’s proposed amendments to the Town Council at a future date.

In other business, the board briefly discussed an upcoming joint workshop with the Town Council to discuss a pre- application by BlueWave solar to amend the town’s solar ordinance to allow the construction of a solar energy facility on a section of the Richmond Commons site.

Lacey reminded the board that the Town Council, in 2021 denied the company’s proposal for solar at the site but said the company is now interested in re-applying.

“The operator, going back to last fall, asked if they could re-apply, and I said ‘well, you’re better off just discussing the concept broadly before you actually file anything formally, just to see if there’s any general appetite for it so that you’re not making a greater investment. Maybe you’ll get some direction,’” he said.

Two changes have taken place since 2021: the membership of the Town Council has changed, and in the absence of any of the hoped-for mixed use development proposals, the council might look more favorably on a solar application.

The developer will present a proposal to the council and Planning Board at the joint workshop, on May 2, at 5 p.m.