WILTON — The Select Board held public hearings via Zoom on Tuesday evening on permits for medical marijuana retail and cultivation, three junkyards and the General Assistance Ordinance.
The board approved The Honey Comb Farm’s permits, which licenses the retail and cultivation business to expand into additional space in the Robinwood Plaza at 844 US 2. The farm will annually pay the town $250 for the Tier 1 cultivation license and $1,250 for the retail license.
The board discussed issues with the limitations that the town’s marijuana ordinance places on adult use and medical marijuana licenses. The town has a limit of four medical caregiver retail licenses, and the Planning Board issued five of these licenses prior to the ordinance’s enactment on Aug. 17.
Residents approved Wilton’s Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Stores, Cultivation Facilities, Manufacturing Facilities, and Testing Facilities Ordinance at the annual Town Meeting on August 17. Andrea Swiedom/Sun Journal
Several board members expressed their disagreement with having limits on the number of cultivation and retail licenses. Board member Tom Saviello requested that further discussion on possible ordinance amendments take place at the next board meeting.
Similar marijuana ordinance amendment discussions took place at Wilton’s Planning Board meeting on Thursday, October 1.
Code Enforcement Officer Charlie Lavin, who developed Wilton’s marijuana ordinance with the Planning Board, reminded the Select Board why limits were placed on licenses.
“As we were doing this ordinance, I took out any limits on the number of retail, on the number of manufacturing, on the number of cultivation and members of the board felt that there probably should be some limits. So we pretty much adopted the limits that a larger town, Farmington, has and utilized that,” Lavin said, via Zoom.
The board also approved three automobile recycling business/junkyard permits which the town issues every fall at the end of September and in early October.
Town Manager Rhonda Irish reviewed the state-issued General Assistance Ordinance for Franklin County, which categorizes supplementary aid for living expenses based on a resident’s income. Board members approved the ordinance unanimously.
There were no public comments or additional residents who attended the public hearings. Irish said she posted notices of the hearings on the town’s website and Facebook page with the option to email questions and comments to the board.
In other business, the board accepted a $5,000 COVID-19 Response Grant to aid with the upcoming election process. Town Clerk Diane Dunham applied for the grant.
The board also accepted a $1,852 safety grant the Fire Department applied for and a $500 private donation to the recreational department.
Irish announced that geotechnical work began on the Forster Mill site on Tuesday.
Two more members were approved for the town’s broadband committee which Irish announced was now at full capacity.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.