WESTPORT -- The town is known for its natural treasures, but Beach Committee members say that landscapers and others have been taking those treasures home.

Town Meeting in May, thanks to the Beach Committee, will weigh in on whether committee members or others could fine people who have been stealing rocks and beach grass from town beaches.

At Monday’s selectmen meeting, Committee members Tim St. Michel and Sean Leach pitched the idea of a bylaw that would fine offenders $250 if they are caught pilfering stones, grass or other items from these public lands.

Leach said it would not apply to young children seeking a sea shell or a souvenir rock or two.

“It give some teeth and enforcement,” Leach said of a fine. He indicated that that when committee members ticket non-decal vehicles, they could also fine people for stealing materials.

“It is something that has been snowballing as time goes on,” Leach added

Leach said when he visited East Beach, a rocky area, he sees landscapers and others loading pickup trucks and barrels to the brim with beach rocks.

Selectman Brian Valcourt questioned if the $250 fine is enough. He and Selectmen Vice Chairman Steven Ouellette recommended that the Beach Committee look into a progressive fee schedule for multiple offenses.

Valcourt, a builder by trade, noted that if a landscaper is stealing $1,000 worth of rocks, a $250 fine still puts that business in the black for the rock stealing venture.

Selectmen approved placing an article on the Town Meeting in May, just as long as the Beach Committee explores a progressive fine that increases the fine per multiple offense.

Leach said that another trend for some beach-goers has been cutting beach grass at Cherry & Webb beach and using it as home decor. Leach said he even caught two women last summer who admitted to the practice.

In other business

At a busy meeting on Monday, Craft Cannabis Co-op Committee member Phil Weinberg told the board that the committee and the Planning Board are having some issues.

Weinberg said board members question if there should be language that states marijuana cultivation does not represent farming and if farmers growing marijuana would impact their state Chapter 61A status,

The committee at Town Meeting hopes to pass a bylaw, and subsequent zoning, that would allow farmers to grow and sell marijuana to supplement their income. Recreational marijuana is prohibited in town, but farmers would be exempt, as long as they are wholesale growing and selling marijuana to licensed recreational facilities outside town borders.

‘It does not allow for any retail sales in town or any retail consumption in town,” Valcourt said.

Planning Board Chairman James Whitin noted that there are no medical dispensaries in town, but if one were developed, farmers in town could sell to them.

Selectmen said that Feb 19 is the deadline to submit articles of this type to the Annual Town Meeting warrant.