China News: Selectmen call for special town meeting on marijuana moratorium

by Mary Grow

China selectmen decided at their Dec. 29 meeting they should call a special town meeting to see if residents want a moratorium on recreational marijuana activities in town, instead of waiting until the town business meeting late in March to ask for voter action.

Earlier in the month board members were ready to put off action to respond to the Nov. 8 state-wide legalization of recreational marijuana production and use. They assumed no China resident could get licensed to grow or sell marijuana commercially or operate a marijuana club until late 2017 at the earliest.

At the Dec. 29 meeting, however, consensus developed that a town resident could apply for and perhaps receive a local license before state regulations are in place, although the hypothetical businessperson could not open the business without a state license.

Since there are no current town regulations applying specifically to commercial marijuana operations, selectmen voted unanimously to ask voters at a special town meeting to approve a 180-day moratorium to give time to develop regulations.

Then they directed Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux to schedule the meeting at the earliest possible date, allowing time for publicity. A special town meeting cannot be held without a quorum; the number of voters to constitute a quorum will not be known until after Jan. 3, according to the Quorum Ordinance on the town web site.

The ordinance says: “A number equal to four percent of the residents registered to vote as of the first business day of January in the year in which the meeting is held shall constitute a quorum.”

Milton Dudley, the only planning board member who accepted the selectmen’s invitation to participate in the discussion of a possible local ordinance, suggested a public hearing to see if voters want to take any action before investing in the special town meeting. Selectmen thought it unnecessary, pointing out that public hearings seldom draw a large attendance.

Other topics at the Dec. 29 meeting included plans for the 2018 bicentennial of the incorporation of the Town of China and the planning board’s reconsideration of a controversial Neck Road application.

L’Heureux said there has been no response to advertisements for a bicentennial coordinator, leaving Selectman Neil Farrington the de facto head of the project.
Farrington said he and resident Tom Parent are working with the digitized version of the China Bicentennial History, published in 1975 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the settlement of the area around China Lake and updated in 1984.

The manager said there are two applicants for the vacant at-large seat on the planning board, including Neck Road resident Tom Michaud. Selectmen would like to appoint a planning board member at their Jan. 9 meeting so he or she could attend the Jan. 10 planning board meeting.

A major item on the Jan. 10 agenda is likely to be Parris and Catherine Varney’s application for commercial use of their barn on Neck Road, sent back to the planning board by the board of appeals.

Michaud has said that his area should be represented, because Jim Wilkens, the district representative and board chairman, is a neighbor of the Varneys and therefore is recusing himself to avoid conflict of interest. Selectman Joann Austin asked if Michaud, too, would be obliged to recuse himself from the Varney case if he were appointed. L’Heureux said he would get an answer to her question by Jan. 9.

Marie Michaud reminded selectmen of the petition she submitted in November asking them to declare a six-month moratorium on new commercial development to give time to reconstitute the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee “in order to establish Land Use Districts in accordance with the goals and provisions set forth and prescribed by the China Comprehensive Plan,” adopted in 2008.

Selectmen voted Nov. 14 to reconstitute the committee, and board member Irene Belanger has been getting in touch with former members to see if they want to serve again. Michaud reminded the board of the moratorium, which they did not impose, and asked for a legal opinion on whether they can ignore part of the petition.

Board Chairman Farrington and member Ron Breton said the petition should go to the March town business meeting, doubting the selectboard’s authority to enforce it.