Beverly Caps Number Of Pot Shops At Four

BEVERLY, MA -- No more than four stores selling recreational marijuana would be allowed to locate in Beverly's commercial and industrial districts under zoning rules unanimously passed by City Council Monday night. City Councilors, who passed the rules with little discussion, had written the rules to avoid having a cluster of marijuana stores in a single location. Under the rules stores can be located near Beverly Airport and in the area near Shaw’s Plaza in North Beverly.

Beverly officials are not anticipating the traffic problems faced by Leicester, one of two communities to host the state's first two retail marijuana operations, and Salem, which could be the first community in greater Boston with a retail marijuana store. By the time a store goes through the approval process to open in Beverly, they expect the "novelty factor" will have worn off.

The limit of four stores is based on a percentage of liquor store licenses in the city. That number could increase if the state grants new liquor license to Beverly.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).