UXBRIDGE – Proposals for town meeting warrant articles to regulate door-to-door solicitors, zone for recreational marijuana and impose local tax options moved forward at Monday's meeting of the Board of Selectmen.
The warrant for spring annual town meeting, which is May 8, closes at 5 p.m. March 9.
Selectmen voted to ask Fire Chief William Kessler and Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie to draft a town bylaw to regulate door-to-door solicitation, a concern raised in a recent Public Safety Committee meeting.
“There is nothing in town bylaws that he can use to stop … questionable people from going door to door,” Fire Chief Kessler reported, speaking on behalf of Chief Lourie. Even if police were to tell a solicitor to stop, “There’s nothing to enforce.”
Chief Lourie did not attend the selectmen’s meeting because he is a finalist for the chief of police position in Westboro.
Chief Kessler said Auburn’s solicitation bylaw allows police to screen solicitors and exclude people with criminal histories. It also defines how residents can indicate they do not want solicitors to come to their door.
Selectmen also proposed to broaden a plan for where marijuana establishments could operate. A proposal raised earlier would allow marijuana for adult use, or recreational, to be grown or sold only in the industrial zoning district in South Uxbridge.
Selectman Justin Piccirillo, board chairman, pointed out that there were other industrial zones where marijuana could be a viable business, including near the junction of Route 16 and Route 146, and on Lackey Dam Road near Route 146. However, one other major industrial zone is in the center of town around the Bernat Mill.
Interim Town Manager David Colton suggested that articles be presented to define two industrial zones, Industrial A, which would be the downtown zone, and Industrial B, which would be all others. The table-of-use proposal could add marijuana establishments as an allowable use only in Industrial B zones, largely on the Route 146 corridor.
“It’s a cleaner way of doing it,” Selectman Jennifer Modica said. “We need to make it as simple as possible.”
Selectmen didn’t come to an agreement on whether to also propose allowing marijuana in the agricultural zoning district, which comprises more than half the town.
Selectmen also agreed to propose regulations for a 3 percent local tax on recreational marijuana sales, as allowed under state law.
Another local sales tax option selectmen indicated they favored would be a 0.75 percent meals tax, with revenue earmarked to fund Other Post-Employment Benefits, which is retiree medical insurance. The tax would bring in approximately $100,000 a year, according to selectmen.
The recommendation to consider the local tax was raised by the state Department of Revenue in a capital planning analysis. According to the analysis, most neighboring towns impose a local meals tax. Northbridge directs its meals tax revenue to fund OPEB, Ms. Modica said.