Putney petitions for retail cannabis vote | Local News | reformer.com – Brattleboro Reformer
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Bitterly cold. Some clouds. Low 1F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: January 20, 2022 @ 3:28 pm
Putney is the next town to vote on retail cannabis sales.
General Assignment Reporter
Putney is the next town to vote on retail cannabis sales.
PUTNEY — After a successful petition, voters are set to decide on retail cannabis sales in town.
Putney Town Clerk Jonathan Johnson received a petition containing 109 signatures of registered voters in Putney and only 100 were needed. He expects the measure will be voted via Australian ballot on annual Town Meeting Day on March 1 whether or not the Select Board opts for an in-person or ballot-only meeting.
Voters also will consider if integrative licensees should be allowed to run cannabis businesses in town. Johnson described these licensees running “a more industrial type of operation.”
In October, Jamaica residents voted 55-27 to allow cannabis retailers to set up shop in town and rejected an article to allow integrative licensees in a 70-12 vote.
Calls for the two items to be separated there came from Fran Janik of Jamaica, a cannabis grower and cannabis patient advocate who previously said the state currently limits integrative licenses to “the three corporations that own the current five dispensary licenses.” He has been raising concerns that the integrated licenses are creating inequities for small business owners.
Tim Morris of Putney said he asked the Select Board if the town would be considering allowing retail cannabis and he was put in touch with the town clerk who told him someone else also was asking about it.
“Eventually, the town clerk drew up the papers and we went out and got signatures,” Morris said.
The petitioners used draft language recommended by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns for the ballot questions, Johnson said.
Morris described the general response being “quite positive.”
“I had a few people say ‘no’ without any real explanation,” he said, “but most people were real positive.”
Morris wants to see retail cannabis in Putney because of the economic advantage.
“For a few years, I’ve been thinking it would be nice to bring more businesses to downtown Putney,” he said, adding that downtown has “a pretty good mix” of businesses but lost some, particularly restaurants. “It seemed a good way to bring more people off the highway to spend money in Putney.”
One or two residents told Morris they would be more in favor of a retail cannabis establishment if they knew someone from Putney would be running it.
“I was like, I can’t promise you that part,” Morris said. He suggested the possibility of someone opening a retail cannabis business in Putney then moving to town.
Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who lives in Putney, hopes the measure passes.
“We do have a village district that we try to keep viable and not become a bedroom community just to Brattleboro,” she said. “It might be viable. Some towns, like Dummerston and Westminster, really don’t have commercial village centers so it doesn’t really make sense for them.”
White said in addition to making sure the business would be viable for the operator and investors, the plan would need to meet a lot of criteria to get approval from the Vermont Cannabis Control Board and the town. Being about 10 minutes from Brattleboro, she wonders if Putney can compete.
Having a vote, White said, “gives an idea to the people who are considering where to open up retail establishments where they shouldn’t even bother thinking about it. This just says, ‘Go ahead and think about it. Do the application and see if it works for you.’”
White recalled a pharmacy in Putney not being viable being so close to Brattleboro.
“This might prove to be the same thing or it might prove to be successful,” she said.
Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Windham-4, who lives in Putney, believes the community would be “a good place” for a retail cannabis establishment. Legislation for regulating retail cannabis is intended in part to provide “an outlet for local growers,” he said.
“We’re trying to keep the big companies out,” he said. “This could be a good thing to keep the whole industry small growers, kind of like our small vegetable growers and small brewers around the state. That fits into our homegrown branding that we do in Vermont.”
Mrowicki senses the proposed measure will be supported in Putney.
“The laws we’ve passed are pretty much just reflections on the reality that already exists,” he said. “If we want to have some controls over it, we need to have the structure that can help, and that includes support for local growers and having outlets for them to sell their retail goods.”
In addition to Jamaica, Brattleboro and Londonderry have approved cannabis retail sales. Rockingham and Wilmington also will be having votes.
Retail cannabis sales are expected to begin in October.
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General Assignment Reporter
Chris Mays is a general assignment reporter for the Brattleboro Reformer and Vermont News & Media.
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