Planners approve town’s first medical marijuana storefront

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members have approved the town’s first medical marijuana storefront, in one end of the ABC storage building on Route 3.

Board members also had two shoreland applications on their Aug. 7 agenda. They approved one and tabled the other for more information.
Bryan Moore and Wendy Ostrow explained their plan to rent the apartment area in the former motel building and turn it into a two-room shop where people with prescriptions for medical marijuana can get them filled.

They described in detail the paperwork required to qualify just to enter the medical marijuana area and the limits on their practice as caregivers.
They will not grow or process marijuana, so the store should not produce odors or unusual waste products. There will be no on-premises consumption. Security will be extensive.

They run a similar operation in Trenton, they said. On Aug. 7, Moore said, 55 customers had stopped; he did not say whether the number was low, high or typical.

Planning board members expressed surprise that no neighbors attended the meeting. Given the apparent lack of concern, they decided informally that no public hearing was needed.

After reviewing criteria for a commercial business, they unanimously approved the permit.

Ostrow said no opening date has been set. One shoreland zoning application was from Michael and Lisa Smart to remove and replace a camp at 12 Cote Road in the Webber Pond shoreland. Board members voted unanimously to allow the change.

The second was from Ryan and Jessica Gallant, who applied to relocate a camper and convert it to a camp at 107 McQuarrie Road, also in the Webber Pond shoreland. The Gallants were not at the Aug. 7 meeting, and board members found they needed more information before they could reach a decision. They therefore tabled the application. In an Aug. 14 email, Codes Officer Richard Dolby said the applicants had withdrawn their application.