Fayette voters will weigh in on an ordinance prohibiting retail and commercial sales of marijuana as well as marijuana social clubs on the warrant for Town Meeting on June 17.
The recommendation to send it out in June came first from the Planning Board Monday night and then, not long after, from the Board of Selectmen, which held a separate meeting Monday night, also at Fayette Center School.
Town Manager Mark Robinson said Tuesday there was some debate on the issue, with most of it favoring the prohibition. He said speakers were concerned about the repercussions seen in other states that allow those sales and social clubs and worried about what might happen in Maine after February 2018, when the state moratorium on new commercial and retail establishments expires.
Other municipalities in central Maine have imposed moratoriums while they debate the issue.
In November 2016, Maine voters approved a law legalizing allowing recreational marijuana. However, Fayette voters rejected it, 426-352.
The law voters approved in November included a nine-month delay to allow state lawmakers time to create rules for selling the drug, and Gov. Paul LePage extended that for three months.
The Fayette Planning Board had been studying the issue for several months before forwarding the 5-0 recommendation Monday. Selectmen voted 4-0 to place it on the June ballot.
Also at the Planning Board meeting Monday, the Friends of Starling Hall won approval for a request to relocate that building 20 to 30 feet farther away from Route 17.
That move, which is part of a larger project to restore the late 1870s building to its former glory, is expected to take place in June.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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