Salem Zoning Board Approves Second Recreational Marijuana Store

SALEM, MA -- The Salem Zoning Board of Appeals approved the special permit application for NS Alternatives to open a recreational marijuana store at 207 Highland Avenue at its meeting Wednesday night. The company still needs to negotiate with the city for a Community Host Agreement. After that pact is brokered, the city will decide whether NS Alternatives will be one of as many four recreational marijuana establishments that it will license to open for business.

The public hearing on a second application, by Sanctuary Medicinals to open a shop at 400 Highland Avenue, was continued to the ZBA's June 20 meeting. In a Facebook post, Ward 3 City Councillor Lisa Peterson said she was under the impression the board would vote on the proposal at that meeting, based on her attendance at Wednesday night's meeting.

In March, the ZBA gave similar approval to Alternative Therapies Group. That company, which has operated a medical marijuana dispensary in Salem for three years, was grandfathered in under city rules passed earlier this year. Under the city rules, the facility gets an automatic license as long as it meets all of the qualifications outlined in the Salem ordinance.

The city plans to grant four licenses to businesses that want to sell marijuana to recreational users. Salem City Council approved recreational marijuana sales in February. Under the new rules, which go into effect later this year, the city will issue licenses in the Downtown business district or in areas zone B2, or "business highway," under city bylaws.

Salem has been pushing to adopt its own rules before the state adopts rules regulating recreational marijuana sales. Those state regulations are expected in late spring or early summer. The local laws approved would only allow for the sale of marijuana; businesses would not be licensed to allow on-site consumption of purchases by customers.

More than 60% of Salem voters supported the 2016 ballot question that legalized recreational marijuana sales. Statewide, the measure passed by a margin of 1,745,394 to 1,511,747. Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a "compromise bill" that reworked the law to address concerns in the original language of the law. The expectation is that recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts will start at some point in 2018.

More on this story:

• Salem Approves First Retail Marijuana Shop (3/29/2018)
• Salem Gets First Two Applications For Retail Marijuana Stores(3/13/2018)
• Salem City Council OKs Pot Sales For Downtown, Highway Areas(2/9/2018)
• Salem Moves Closer To Recreational Marijuana Sales (2/2/2018)
• Salem May Be Open To Experimenting With Recreational Marijuana (11/29/2017)
• Peabody Poised To Ban Retail Marijuana Sales (11/10/2017)

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Patch file photo.

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