Natick residents want 300-foot buffer with retail marijuana businesses
3 min read
NATICK – Neighbors near the Wellesley Line on Rte. 9 urge Town Meeting to place a 300-foot buffer between their homes and each marijuana retail store.
The city meeting begins on Tuesday and is expected to take up the citizens’ petition calling for the city-wide buffer zone.
More:Natick Select Board votes 5-0 to sign an agreement with the marijuana dealer
What is driving the effort is the fact that several marijuana stores are looking to settle on Rte. 9 near the Wellesley Line. The area is one of the marijuana retail districts established after a special meeting in the city in 2018.
Neighbors in the Jennings / Morses Pond neighborhood are concerned that a marijuana retail store will result in more traffic, noise and decreased property values.
Martha Paynter has lived on Grove Road for 25 years and sponsored the Citizens’ Petition.
“It will be stressful for this neighborhood,” she said.
Traffic isn’t Paynter’s only concern. The city already has a 300-foot residential buffer zone for medical marijuana facilities, so Paynter believes it’s only fair that there is one for marijuana retail stores.
“It’s a consistency problem,” she said. “Retail marijuana is three times the volume (business) of medical marijuana.”
Town Meeting established the medical marijuana buffer zone in 2014. It set a distance of 300 feet from the nearest boundary of a neighborhood that is divided into residential areas.
More:Not in my neighborhood: some in Natick don’t want marijuana retail stores
Advocates of a retail buffer zone sent information to members of the town meeting last week to highlight their concerns.
“I hope they will be open minded and find out more,” Paynter said.
The Select Board has the authority to issue up to two retail marijuana licenses per vote at the 2018 Special Assembly.
Cypress Tree Management got last month when it unanimously decided to sign an agreement with the company, which is located in Cloverleaf Mall near the Rte.9 / Speen Street interchange
The agreement has a term of five years, but Cypress Tree cannot be opened until a final license from the state cannabis control board and all necessary local approvals are obtained.
A city committee is expected to recommend a company obtain the second license during the Select Board meeting on April 21st.
The four companies vying for this second license – and where they’re looking to open – include C3 Industries (42 Worcester St.); Revolutionary Clinics (6 Worcester St., current location of the Nine East Wine Emporium); Phytotherapy (45-61 Worcester St., the former location of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture); and ReLeaf Alternatives (291 Worcester St).
Revolutionary clinics and phytotherapy have also filed a joint application for the second license, according to James Freas, Natick’s director of community and economic development.
Ultimately, Paynter believes that the town meeting has to be right for the buffer zone.
“I hope the town meeting members recognize the validity of our concerns and are doing the right thing,” she said. “If it’s right for medical marijuana, it’s right for retail marijuana.”
Henry Schwan is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. Follow Henry on Twitter @henrymetrowest. He can be reached at hschwan@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-3964.
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