PEABODY — Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. is opting not to move forward with an ordinance he submitted last November that would’ve expanded the area in which marijuana can be sold in the city while permitting recreational sales for the first time.
Bettencourt sent a letter to the City Council informing them of his decision to withdraw the proposal on May 4, and the communication was referred to the council’s Ad Hoc Municipal Marijuana Committee during a meeting last Thursday. In his letter, Bettencourt said he decided to withdraw the proposed ordinance because he determined “further study” on the issue was needed after conversations with residents.
Bettencourt said he opposed allowing recreational dispensaries to open in the city following a 2016 statewide referendum that legalized such businesses. However, he said last year that the need for additional revenue in the city warranted a discussion about creating a zone where recreational dispensaries could open in Peabody. Bettencourt said the city had benefitted from watching the process play out in other communities, including neighbors Lynn and Salem, noting that those communities had received tax benefits by welcoming dispensaries.
The council first took up the proposed ordinance at its Nov. 22 meeting, referring it to the committee by a 9-1 vote, with Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning-Martin in opposition. At the time, Manning-Martin said she didn’t want “anything to do with” the ordinance.
The sale of medical marijuana is permitted in the city at four designated locations on Route 1 in the vicinity of the closed Bertucci’s restaurant. Bettencourt’s proposal would have expanded that area on the northbound side of Route 1 as far north as 151 Newbury St and allowed the sale of recreational marijuana. He emphasized his belief that any expansion of marijuana sales in the city must steer clear of schools, residences, and places of worship.
The ordinance also sought to “impose reasonable safeguards to govern the time, place, and manner of marijuana establishment operations and any business dealings in such a way as to ensure public health, safety, wellbeing, and undue impacts on the natural environment.”
The council voted in 2018 to ban recreational sales, a move Bettencourt supported. However, the mayor said he felt the time was right to revisit the issue because of marijuana reform legislation signed into law by former Gov. Charlie Baker in August 2022.
That law provided significant changes to host community agreements between dispensaries and municipalities, and placed additional restrictions on community-impact fees.
Specifically, the fees must be reasonably related to the costs imposed on cities and towns. They cannot exceed 3 percent of gross marijuana sales or include any additional required payments, including monetary payments and charitable contributions by marijuana businesses to host communities or any other organizations.
“It basically was the wild west with no real rules in place,” Bettencourt said in November.
Bettencourt did not appear before the council to further explain his decision to withdraw the proposal. It is unclear when, if ever, the committee will discuss the withdrawal.
