Potential Melrose Pot Shop Location Takes Heat At Meeting

MELROSE, MA — City officials who are proposing zoning changes that would allow recreational marijuana shops near Route 1 and - more controversially - by Oak Grove were subject to passionate comments from residents arguing largely against the move.

The public comments were heard during a joint meeting of the Appropriations Committee - made up of the Board of Aldermen - and the Planning Board. The meeting went more than 2 1/2 hours and followed another 90-minute meeting on affordable housing. The Aldermanic Chamber emptied out around midnight with no resolution, but with a lot of input City Planner Denise Gaffey said was helpful.

The amendment's major changes would see the city cap retail marijuana stores at two. They would be allowed to go in the southeast corner of Melrose where it catches the Newbury Turnpike - where the medical marijuana facility Garden Remedies is now - and the lower Washington Street area, with the Marty's Furniture building being the most likely landing spot, officials said. You can read the full amendment here.

The multi-faceted conversation around the amendment was fitting for a city that voted in favor of 2016's Question 4 but only by the narrowest of margins: 51.6 in favor, 48.4 opposed.

One of the driving forces of the opposition crowd is, well, driving. Traffic and parking in the Washington Street area where a retail shop would likely go is already insufferable, Ward 5 residents said.

The proposal said those issues should be mitigated because of the area's proximity to Oak Grove Station and even Wyoming Hill, but Police Chief Michael Lyle was among those concerned about the congestion, particularly in the morning.

Another sticking point is the existence of Little Sprouts Early Education & Child Care. While a recreational marijuana facility cannot operate within 500 feet of a K-12 school, the likely landing spot of a pot shop on Washington Street would be just steps from Little Sprouts, which has infants and toddlers. The presence of the daycare would exclude the area if it was a medical marijuana facility, but allows for a recreational one.

In a letter to the committee, Little Sprouts mentioned several concerns about such a facility being so close by. Nearby Towne Estates also expressed concerns in a letter.

Other Ward 5 residents were concerned with what a recreational marijuana store would do to the neighborhood's property values.

Ward 5 Alderman Shawn MacMaster was the most vocal defender of his neighborhood.

"True equity in government does not burden some residents over others. If the City wants a second marijuana facility beyond the Newbury Turnpike area, then all residents, not just those who live in Ward 5, should share in the risks and burdens that it will impose," MacMaster said Tuesday night.

MacMaster was among aldermen who also expressed concerns about having an all-cash business, "a business by its very nature that is a prime target for an armed robbery, just steps away from a daycare and in the middle of a residential neighborhood."

MacMaster asked the Planning Department and Zoning Board to remove the neighborhood from the proposal. If the amendment goes forward, some aldermen may be hesitant to allow a change that so disproportionately impacts one part of the city when that ward's alderman is so opposed.

Even some in favor of recreational marijuana - which remains federally illegal but was legalized by Massachusetts and Melrose three years ago - wants to see it in a different location. Shaleen Title, the commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission, said restricting where marijuana businesses can go can result in landlords leveraging high rent, which can result in only well-financed operations coming in, sometimes from out of state.

"[The CCC has] issued 99 licenses, we've not issued even one to a minority-owned business," Title, a Malden resident, said.

Others also didn't like the idea of putting the supposed burden of a pot shop on one area while the rest of the city benefits. Melrose can impose a 3 percent tax on all recreational marijuana sales.

Alan Brown, a Melrose resident who spent half of his 50 years in the city in Ward 5, spoke in opposition.

"Just because it may be good for the city, it's not necessarily good for the neighborhood."

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Photo: Shawn MacMaster (middle right) was at the center of Tuesday night's meeting. He had questions for City Planner Denise Gaffey (bottom left.) By Mike Carraggi, Patch