LYNN — Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy has vetoed a City Council ordinance limiting where medical marijuana dispensaries can open in Lynn based on its “suspected unconstitutionality.”
She sent an initial message Friday to councilors and noted she plans to detail her concerns about the zoning ordinance in a letter to them. The message stated that she opposes the ordinance approved Jan. 8 “for many reasons but primarily because of its suspected unconstitutionality.”
The ordinance bans dispensaries from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, park, playgrounds and homes. Councilors voted 8-2 in favor of it with councilors Daniel Cahill and Brendan Crighton opposed, and Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano absent and attending an emergency River Works meeting.
The city’s charter prescribes a two-thirds vote of the 11-member council to override a mayoral veto. Council President Timothy Phelan on Friday said Kennedy’s objection to the ordinance “will be debated and vetted” beginning next Tuesday night, before the council takes an override vote.
Phelan sides with Police Chief Kevin Coppinger, who told councilors during a public hearing that marijuana has been a contributing factor in city homicides.
“I agree with the chief of police: I don’t think they (dispensaries) are good for the city’s image; I don’t think they should be near parks,” he said.
Phelan on Friday acknowledged the statewide referendum vote last November approving up to 35 dispensaries in Massachusetts, including five in Essex County where Lynn is located.
“This is new territory for all municipalities in Massachusetts. Whether it is or is not constitutional is purely speculative until a court rules one way or another,” Phelan said.
He stressed that the ordinance does not seek to ban dispensaries but only seeks to “control where a dispensary may or may not go.”
Referendum supporters argued that medical marijuana grown in private homes or available in dispensaries can be used to aid people suffering from glaucoma, hepatitis and other ailments.
Cahill and Crighton voted against the ordinance arguing the council can afford to wait for state officials to prepare and release regulations governing how dispensaries operate.
“There is no sense of urgency to the issue – it would be prudent to see the state regulations,” Crighton said.
Cahill is not surprised by former Councilor at large Kennedy’s veto.
“I don’t know her reasons but, from my experience working with her on the council, she pays particular attention to details. I’m not surprised at her reluctance about an ordinance that would potentially be deemed unconstitutional,” he said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
