A push is being made for increased marijuana access in Oak Bluffs.
Patient Centric CEO and Island Time owner Geoff Rose submitted a citizens’ petition to the town of Oak Bluffs in late September, requesting several amendments to the town’s zoning bylaws.
The first of these includes expanding the allowed areas for a registered marijuana dispensary or establishment into the B-1 commercial district, which includes central locations like Circuit Avenue.
Although medical and adult-use marijuana establishments are not prohibited in Oak Bluffs, they are limited to the “overlay district” in the town. Based on the current zoning bylaws and assessors’ maps, the overlay district consists of parcels near Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Windemere Road, Holmes Hole Road, Head of the Pond Road, and Vineyard Haven Road.
Rose said it was “somewhat understandable” why the overlay district was passed into the bylaws. Initially, people had concerns about excessive traffic and security concerns from retail marijuana. Rose is no stranger to these concerns, having faced pushback when establishing Island Time and West Tisbury medical marijuana locations, the latter of which was bought by Fine Fettle.
“We know the sky didn’t fall,” Rose said, adding that an appointment-only restriction implemented when on-Island marijuana dispensaries first opened was eliminated “relatively quickly.”
The B-1 commercial district consists of prime business locations in Oak Bluffs, including Circuit Avenue and Kennebec Avenue, and other areas away from the downtown hub, like parts of Uncas Avenue.
Rose also pointed out that Oak Bluffs was missing out on income by restricting where marijuana dispensaries could be established. He said a dispensary is required to give 3 percent of its gross revenue to the town it’s located in, and Oak Bluffs residents are going to Tisbury and West Tisbury for marijuana, where dispensaries are located.
“I’m an Oak Bluffs resident as well,” he said.
This doesn’t mean the rest of the Island simply allows marijuana establishments to open without limitations. The zoning bylaws of Edgartown, Tisbury, and West Tisbury all specify where marijuana facilities and dispensaries are allowed to be established.
Alongside expanding the overlay district, Rose is also looking to get marijuana establishments permitted inside a building containing residential units. Under the current Oak Bluffs zoning bylaws, marijuana establishments are not allowed in buildings containing residential units, including “transient housing, or inside a movable or mobile structure such as a van or truck.”
Rose said this was due to security concerns, but pointed out that other businesses, like package stores, are able to operate in buildings with residential units without issue. Additionally, the dispensary in West Tisbury is located in a property with a residential component.
“There are no issues, no incidents,” Rose said. “We’re a highly regulated business, and we follow the letter of the law.”
Another of the amendments asks for changes in the time when marijuana establishments can be operational. Under current zoning bylaws, operational hours are set by the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals, although “in no event shall a marijuana [establishment] be open and/or operating between the hours of 6 pm and 8 am.” The amendment would still have the zoning board of appeals setting operational hours, but the hours of nonoperation would be changed to between the hours of 9 pm and 9 am.
Rose said these petition articles still need to go through a public hearing process, with one scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 26, before it can even be added to the Oak Bluffs Annual Town Meeting warrant.
The annual town meeting is expected to be on April 9, according to Oak Bluffs Select Board executive assistant Debra Alley.
The Oak Bluffs planning board is scheduled to discuss the petition during its meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12. The Oak Bluffs Select Board was also notified about the petition.
The planning board is currently gathering public feedback for potential zoning bylaw reforms. Planning board chair Ewell Hopkins said these potential reforms would be treated as “different and distinct” topics — a citizens’ petition and a set of town-sponsored warrant articles.
Hopkins said the overlay districts were voted in by Oak Bluffs residents. “What we have said as a town is we do not want cannabis operations in a larger commercial designation,” Hopkins said regarding the voters’ past decision. “We want it as a separate and distinct designation.”
Hopkins said the amendments were asking whether the town would change its course on marijuana. “That is all to be decided by the voters of Oak Bluffs,” Hopkins said.
Both types of reform requests will go through a public hearing process, and will be accompanied by a recommendation from the planning board to inform voters during the annual town meeting in April.
When Rose was asked whether he was interested in expanding into Oak Bluffs, he said, “We’ll see.”
He added there are still other processes that would need to occur before that could be considered, like the public hearing and the residents’ vote. Even if the amendments are approved, Rose would need to see whether an appropriate property was available.
For now, Rose hopes to make a “level playing field” for marijuana businesses in Oak Bluffs.
Just say No!
We the people have said yes.
No is anti-democratic.
why? it’s legal.
Will it be open after the bars close?
you could just read the article, it says, “operational hours are set by the Oak Bluffs Zoning Board of Appeals, although “in no event shall a marijuana [establishment] be open and/or operating between the hours of 6:00 pm and 8:00 am.”
Take a sarcasm pill.
This is anti-munchies.
Does this island, or anywhere else, really need more access to a mind altering substance?
Yes, that is what we the people decided.
That is why the Island keeps increasing the number of outlets for for mind altering substances.
How long until Chilmark has a bottle shop?
I have been very impressed by the conscientiousness and professionalism of Geoff Rose as he’s navigated incredible bureaucratic hurdles over the last decade.
Not to mention mind altering substances.
The last Island Hippie?
Funny, I was thinking the same thing
You got that right, Julian.
Interesting that some of the usual suspects
who wave their flags and speak of “freedom”
want to limit the freedom of people to choose
what to put into their bodies. I don’t even think
they are capable of the cognition that is required
to note the irony of it all. These are the same people
who demand the freedom to choose what to not put into
their bodies (vaccinations for example) but will be
more than happy to deny me the freedom to choose
what to put into my body.
Just for the record, i don’t indulge in marijuana.
I don’t tell them that they can’t eat bacon and steak
while they drink their 32 oz bottles of rum and coke.
The environmental impact and the fact
that when they develop diabetes and heart failure,
my insurance goes up. Or perhaps, they don’t have
insurance and will just let the government pay for their
health care or destroyed houses while they falsely claim
“illegals” get free medical care at taxpayer expense.
But you know, they never actually clearly define
“the problem”.
Yeah, I’m talking about you, Peter.
What’s the problem with people being able to
conveniently purchase a legal product they choose ?
Just this morning you posted a comment that included
the phrase ” people are either for freedom or terror.”
I can assume that since you are against freedom….
Julian– kudos to you for always posting rational comments.
I’m with you when it comes to annual Darwin awards and I have had family members succumb to addiction. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.
However, undocumented persons are entitled to government healthcare
https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/lawfully-present-immigrants/#:~:text=Immigrants%20who%20are%20%E2%80%9Cqualified%20non,state's%20income%20and%20residency%20rules.
Complicated issue since we don’t want people walking around infecting others. Just another reason to get vaccinated from diseases that we know we can prevent the spread of safely and effectively. Experimental “vaccines” not so much.
If I may, many people use the emergency rooms for primary care since our laws say you can’t be turned away no matter financial or immigration status.
Don, Peter said “people are either for freedom or terror” under a story about brutal suffering and loss of life. That context carries meaning. He wasn’t talking about pastimes on a spoiled resort island. To hold such a statement against him, on a topic that’s comparatively unimportant, is unfair.
Even if we don’t end up with a store in OB, people can get marijuana legally on the Vineyard. From multiple locations. One, if I recall, even delivers. I don’t see anyone in this thread working to shut down existing places. Not much of a limitation, then.
As for rationality, you strongly implied that a commenter is in favor of terrorism—actual terrorism—because he didn’t get excited over expanding the sale of a drug. That’s gotta strike some as illogical. Why trivialize the horrors in Israel to make a point?
I wish this pattern would stop. Almost every discussion becomes a partisan showdown, complete with kitchen-sink issues thrown in. Yet not every topic or opinion is political in nature. Sometimes we’re just sorting things out, person to person. At least that’s the idea.
The luxury of rolling an expensive joint in OB has nothing to do with the border crisis, Hamas, or anything else of significance.
OB is lacking in access to many things. Weed is not on that list.
Alcohol is much more accessible.
I would much rather deal with a stoner than a drunk!
I’d much rather deal with sober people.
Stoner’s are easy to deal with, drunks are violent.
Ask any bar owner.
Albert, I meant sober in the completely substance-free sense. No weed or alcohol. Adults can do what they want within the confines of the law. But sometimes it’s nice to be around people who aren’t chemically altered.
Unpopular opinion, I know. Especially on the Island.
My neck hairs start to stand up whenever I read Ewell Hopkins telling us what “we” want. I’m not exactly hearing a groundswell of support for the other zoning changes that the Planning Board is currently proposing, and I see no reason why this proposal shouldn’t be on the warrant next to those. The Planning Board claims to be seeking input from the public on zoning issues – well, there’s some input. Mr. Rose’s presentation was a high point of the otherwise uninformative and disorganized meeting held by the planning board on 10/12. Unlike the OB Planning Board, Mr. Rose shared the reasons underlying his zoning proposal and what the potential benefits are. Either cannabis is legal, or it isn’t. The fact is that cannabis is now legal due to the will of the voters, and once we have decided to accept it as a society then what is wrong with selling it out of the walk-in humidor in Jim’s packy? Restricting it to a red light district for weed will only ensure that we never realize any of the alleged benefits of legalization by continuing to enable the black market. Are we just going to pretend that cannabis isn’t readily available in our residential districts? The only way to redirect this traffic to legal avenues is to support the legitimate cannabis industry – otherwise, why bother legalizing it?
The voters must not be allowed to make mind altering decisions.
Mr. Rose,
you have brought legal and “safe” cannabis to the island. Mission Accomplished!
But when is “enough” enough?
Someone needs to pin this guy down on the record as to how much weed the island truly needs. It feels like every time we give him an inch, he comes back asking for a few more feet. As someone who now has COPD and Asthma from my own past consumption, I have to ask: When is “enough” enough? And do not use liquor’s availability as part of your answer. Islanders can get legal and illegal weed if they want.
So please define your your total end goal of cannabis proliferation on island, once and for all.
Thank you.