NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Thursday night to extend a moratorium on medical marijuana production facilities another six months.

The extension will give the town’s Medical Marijuana Grow Facility Committee more time to develop land-use regulations and ordinances governing such enterprises.

Town Manager Dennis Lajoie said the moratorium was set to expire April 2.

“If the board votes to extend the moratorium, the committee will spend the next 180 days taking a hard look at the Comprehensive Plan, and draft ordinances that fit into the plan,” Lajoie said.

The committee will meet again next week, he said.

Selectman Thomas Curtis, who also serves on the committee, said the committee had made great progress, and “this first extension we’re seeking will probably be the last time we can extend it.”

“Hopefully, the state will be able to give us more guidance in this next six-month period,” Curtis said.

In October 2017, voters unanimously passed a moratorium on establishing medical marijuana facilities. Some selectmen and many residents said they were concerned about the number of such proposals and the effect they would have on the downtown.

In other business Thursday night, the board voted to appoint seven residents to the Budget Committee. They are Joan Beal, Jim Boyce, Mike Mann Jr., Carol Roth, Gary Howe, Vern Maxfield and Don Allen.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

Norway Selectmen Bruce Cook, left, and Thomas Curtis, center, vote to approve a 180-day extension of a medical marijuana production facility moratorium Thursday evening. Town Manager Dennis Lajoie, right,  said the moratorium was due to expire April 2. (Matthew Daigle/Sun Journal)

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