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City planners move to get zoning board out of cannabis approval process
By adamg on Wed, 08/24/2022 - 10:18am
One board overseeing the approval of marijuana shops in Boston is more than enough, according to the BPDA, which holds a hearing Monday on eliminating a requirement that all dispensaries seek approval of the Zoning Board of Appeal now that the city has a separate Cannabis Board.
The Zoomed hearing begins at 6 p.m.
In addition to removing the zoning board from the approval process, the proposed change could also mean the effective end of a city ordinance calling for a half-mile buffer between marijuana establishments.
Mayor Walsh never paid much attention to the buffer - proposed by at-large Councilor Michael Flaherty to keep neighborhoods from being overrun by leafy green substances and their byproducts - and the Boston Cannabis Board has shown equal disdain, repeatedly approving shops closer than a half mile across the city.
This has led to sometimes angry zoning-board hearings at which zoning-board member threw their hands up in disgust at being forced into considering the buffer when close-by proposals came before them.
Even Flaherty now says he's not absolutely opposed to shops within a half mile of each other. At a hearing on one proposed Allston dispensary, an aide to the councilor said he is satisfied that oversight by city boards can ensure neighborhoods don't become pot hotspots.
That approval led to one of two lawsuits by prospective dispensary owners against the zoning board for approving shops within a half mile of each other. The owner of a proposed Back Bay shop is also suing.
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Comments
The amount of regulation put
The amount of regulation put on a basically harmless plant never ceases to amaze me. Unfortunately until we have craft cannabis licenses there’s going to be nothing but mediocrity from monied interests.
Beer is safer than water
Yet alcohol is as heavily regulated. And of that matter, weren't we sold the claim that cannabis should be treated the same way as we treat alcoholic beverages? So here we are.
And yes, I will qualify the "beer is safer than water" comment. Before water treatment was an thing, alcoholic beverages were considered safer to drink than water as the process involved heating the liquid, this killing contaminants. I drink a lot more water than alcohol, and I suggest the same for others.
Wouldn't it be less
Wouldn't it be less misleading if your tagline was "Beer was once safer than water before mandatory industrial-scale purification of drinking water"?
Yes, but
There's a character limit for the subject line.
Amen! It should never have
Amen! It should never have been a regulation given that bars have no such restrictions. On top of that the ZBA is also not the body that should have been involved in such a decision. The ZBA should have no business deciding what kind of products a retailer sells in a location that is zoned for retail.
I voted against it
The ballot proposal was not “should weed be legal?” it was “should we create artificial scarcity of weed licenses and an unelected bureaucracy to hand out the goodies?” I voted against it even though I firmly support repealing prohibition of weed.
This is a tough one. There
This is a tough one. There are plenty of things that need multiple boards to approve. Including liquor licenses. If you want to open up a liquor store in a location that does not allow that sort of establishment you need to get it zoned and then pass the licensing board.
What they should do is put weed shops into the same bucket that liquor stores are in. If an area is already zoned for liquor it should also be zoned for weed. If it is not zoned for that sort of use then you would have to have the zoning changed.
Completely removing the zoning board would make it easier to obtain a weed shop then a liquor store location.
How to ensure neighborhoods don't become pot hotspots?
Have the shops evenly distributed throughout the city.
Speaking of which, isn't there enough data by now to disprove the boogymen of long pedestrian lines, increased car traffic, and crackheads offering BJs to school kids, that have been used as justification for locations and store architecture? It would be nice to have some statistics so those arguments could be laughed out of meetings.
Does anyone in Boston really
Does anyone in Boston really think in terms of miles when they are discussing distances between places in the city? They should have discussed how many blocks there are between pot shops or even how many pot shops can be in one neighborhood. Boston is foremost a city of neighborhoods.
Hang on...
How did the BRA get any say over this??