Wayland Voters Say Yes To Pot Ban, No To New Field: TM Results

WAYLAND, MA—It's been a long time coming. Wayland's going to pass on grass.

At Special Town Meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 13, voters passed a zoning amendment that will effectively prohibit marijuana establishments, other than registered medical marijuana dispensaries, in town. The approval of Article 7 bans commercial recreational marijuana establishments that include retail stores selling any type of marijuana products, commercial cultivation facilities, testing facilities and product manufacturing.

In November of 2017, Wayland residents at Special Town Meeting voted 549 in favor and 97 opposed for a non-medical/recreational temporary marijuana moratorium zoning bylaw amendment. And in the mid-term election, a measure also passed to ban recreational businesses in town. The measure, which passed 1,226 to 465, was the first in the final two steps to prohibit pot shops for good in Wayland.

Massachusetts requires that a town that voted to legalize recreational marijuana in the 2016 statewide election opt out with votes at a town election and Town Meeting, which it accomplished on Tuesday night. Wayland supported legalizing marijuana on Question 4 in November 2016, but only by a 78-vote margin.

Since Wayland voters didn't approve Article 7, the planning board offered Article 6 as a response, amending the Zoning Bylaw to create a zoning district where marijuana establishments would be permitted.

Voters did not pass Article 9, which would have appropriated $1.5 million to the Wayland Recreation Commission to permit, design, engineer and construct a multi-purpose grass athletic soccer-sized playing field at the Loker Conservation and Recreation Area.

And the contentious Article 10, which, if passed, would have prohibited unholstered or uncased firearms to be carried on public property without written consent, and also on private property without written consent of the owner, was passed over. It would also have prohibited the discharge of any firearm, rifle, shotgun or pistol on land unless they are 1000 feet from the nearest dwelling.

Here is how the articles fared at Special Town Meeting:

1. Pay Previous Fiscal Years Unpaid Bills: passed
2. Current Year Transfers: passed
3. Fund Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019 Successor Collective Bargaining Agreement: passed
4. Zoning: Update Flood Maps: passed
5. Fund Asbestos Mitigation At River’s Edge: passed
6. Zoning: Establish District for Marijuana Establishments and Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers: passed as amended
7. Zoning: Prohibit Recreational Marijuana Establishments: passed
8. Zoning: Use of Pre-Existing Nonconforming Land that Consists of More than Six Dwelling Units: passed
9. Loker Grass Field: did not pass
10. Limit Discharge of Weapons: passed over

Photo via Shutterstock