OXFORD — Two residents asked selectmen Thursday night to form a committee to consider restricting where medical marijuana growing operations can be located and how large they can be.
Wayne Ayotte of Tiger Hill Road and Roger Wulleman of West Poland Road said they’re concerned about medical marijuana growers not being required locate in the business and mixed used zones along the Route 26. They specifically cited a building on Tiger Hill Road recently retrofitted to grow large amounts of cannabis.
Wulleman served on the original Adult Use Marijuana Ordinance Committee in 2017.
“It’s not like little ma and pa, it’s a big growing facility, over 500 square feet,” Wulleman said. “If I was to sell my house and there was a grow facility next to me, the value on my property would go down and I would be damn lucky if I could sell it. It shouldn’t be coming out in the residential areas.”
Code Enforcement Officer Kingston Brown said Ayotte’s neighbor is licensed by the state as a marijuana caregiver and Maine law allows such growers to operate at their residences.
A building at 246 Tiger Hill Road in Oxford is being developed for a medical marijuana growing operation in a residential neighborhood. The town’s adult use marijuana ordinance does not limit where such operations can be located. Nicole Carter/Advertiser Democrat
Ayotte said his concerns are about the constant odor that will be emitted from the building and protecting his property value.
“I knew nothing about this (happening),” he said. “Should there have been a notice put out about it for abutting neighbors?”
Brown said if the odor becomes a nuisance neighbors have the right to file complaints with the town.
Ayotte said filing complaints after a grower has put a sizable investment into their property is not an ideal way to manage such a situation.
The town passed an adult use marijuana ordinance last year that covers cultivation, manufacturing, testing, distribution and sales. There are eight facilities along Route 26, with another four expected, Wulleman said.
There is no limit on the number of such facilities and no restrictions on medical marijuana growing operations.
“It’s time to redo this ordinance to keep medical marijuana out of residential areas,” Wulleman said. “Maybe it needs to be different than 500 square feet. They can grow unlimited amounts within that 500.”
Wulleman asked selectmen form a committee to review allowances for medical marijuana growers. He said Oxford has no ordinance restricting medical grow facilities, but state law allows towns to establish rules on where they can be located and how large they can be.
Selectmen made no comment on the men’s concerns.
In other business, Town Manager Adam Garland presented selectmen with a list of ordinances that Brown recommended revising ahead of the annual town meeting in June. They include changing a small area in Welchville from residential only zone to mixed use; adjusting the property maintenance ordinance to make nuisance properties chargeable offenses in court; clarifying language in the sewer ordinance; adjusting the marijuana licensing process away from the land use ordinance to a specific marijuana facility licensing ordinance; and creating a food sovereignty ordinance.
Selectmen agreed to schedule public hearings on the changes.
Garland also reported that recent request for proposals to conduct property revaluations failed to attract one bid. He said vendors are extremely busy and were unable to meet the completion date specified. He suggested a new proposal be written with a more flexible timeline and loosening the requirement that the work be done with the same technology platform Oxford uses.
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