Melrose Could Allow 2 Recreational Pot Shops. Here's Where

MELROSE, MA — As the city's moratorium on recreational marijuana expires at the end of the year, zoning rules have to be established for recreational marijuana retailer. While it could take a couple more months for the rules to go into effect - and quite some time after for businesses to get up and running - the ball is now rolling.

According to a zoning amendment put forth by a zoning subcommittee with support from the planning office, Melrose could allow for up to two recreational marijuana dispensaries in addition to the medical marijuana currently in business. However many there are, you'll still have to go to the edges of the city to find them.

Melrose must have enough recreational marijuana licenses to equal 20 percent of the city's package stores. Since the city doesn't have any, that minimum number defaults to one. But the Planning Board recommended capping the number at two "in order to better serve the market for the area, encourage competition, and generate additional revenue for the City," the amendment said.

Municipalities are allowed to tax recreational marijuana retailers 3 percent.

Recreational marijuana retailers would be restricted to three zoning areas:

• Where Garden Remedies currently operates a medical marijuana facility, where Route 99 briefly cuts through Melrose.
• Just north of the aforementioned area, still bordering Saugus.
• Between Washington Street and Banks Place from the Malden line up just past Stone Place, behind the railroad tracks.

In the zoning map below, these are BB, I, and IA, respectively. It is the yellow on the left and righthand corners on the bottom, and the purple on the righthand corner.

Garden Remedies could theoretically open a recreational facility in its current building, which would take one of the licenses.

The amendment still has to make its way through the Appropriations Committee, which is a committee made up of the entire Board of Alderman.

A public hearing is scheduled to be held for Jan. 14.

In 2016, Melrose narrowly voted in favor of Question 4, which was to legalize recreational marijuana. The votes were 8,595 for, 8,077 against.

• Read also: MA Gets First Whiff Of Recreational Marijuana
• Where To Expect Dispensaries Next

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  Melrose Zoning Map by Mike Carraggi

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Photo by Jimmy Bentley, Patch