Land Court sides with pot business in Charlton case
By
Mark Sullivan
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2019 at 7:20 PM
Updated Mar 10, 2019 at 7:20 PM
Marijuana business Valley Green Grow Inc. prevailed against the town
of Charlton in a Land Court case decided Thursday in Boston.
Valley Green Grow seeks to site the largest marijuana growing operation in the country on Charlton Orchards land on Old Worcester Road.
Judge Robert Foster ruled that because Charlton had previously regulated recreational marijuana through zoning, it could not ban marijuana shops and override zoning regulations with a general bylaw. The judge wrote that such a ban is “beyond the scope of the Town’s power and authority.”
“Having permitted marijuana use through its zoning bylaw, Charlton could only change or bar that use by amending the zoning bylaw,” Judge Foster wrote in the 21-page decision. “It could not do what it did here — bar the previously allowed zoning use by ... a general bylaw.”
In May, Charlton town meeting passed a zoning bylaw allowing recreational marijuana business in parts of the town. At a special town meeting in August, voters sought to rescind the zoning bylaw and enact a general bylaw imposing a ban.
Zoning articles need a two-thirds vote to succeed at town meeting, and the measure failed. The general bylaw, which only needed a majority vote, passed.
Valley Green Grow Inc. filed the lawsuit in September.
The fact that a citizens group had tried to ban nonmedical marijuana businesses through both methods and only passed the lower threshold of a general bylaw demonstrates “why it was improper,” Judge Foster wrote.
Wednesday, the town of Charlton put a stamp of disapproval on the embattled plan to site the marijuana growing operation at Charlton Orchards.
The Planning Board’s final public hearing drew hours of testimony
from residents protesting the Valley Green Grow subdivision plan tied to
the proposed 1 million-square-foot medical and recreational marijuana
growing and processing operation at 44 Old Worcester Road.
The $100 million project, next to a residential area, required Planning Board approval on two separate applications: a definitive subdivision plan and a site plan.
The board unanimously rejected the site plan on Jan. 2, and the company has appealed the decision in a pending Worcester Superior Court complaint.
The Land Court question applied to the subdivision plan that Valley Green Grow submitted to Charlton planning authorities last year.
The dispute was one of several to emerge since Valley Green Grow proposed a greenhouse complex that would include a processing center and co-generation facility.
- Material from The Cape Cod Times was used in this report.
Valley Green Grow seeks to site the largest marijuana growing operation in the country on Charlton Orchards land on Old Worcester Road.
Judge Robert Foster ruled that because Charlton had previously regulated recreational marijuana through zoning, it could not ban marijuana shops and override zoning regulations with a general bylaw. The judge wrote that such a ban is “beyond the scope of the Town’s power and authority.”
“Having permitted marijuana use through its zoning bylaw, Charlton could only change or bar that use by amending the zoning bylaw,” Judge Foster wrote in the 21-page decision. “It could not do what it did here — bar the previously allowed zoning use by ... a general bylaw.”
In May, Charlton town meeting passed a zoning bylaw allowing recreational marijuana business in parts of the town. At a special town meeting in August, voters sought to rescind the zoning bylaw and enact a general bylaw imposing a ban.
Zoning articles need a two-thirds vote to succeed at town meeting, and the measure failed. The general bylaw, which only needed a majority vote, passed.
Valley Green Grow Inc. filed the lawsuit in September.
The fact that a citizens group had tried to ban nonmedical marijuana businesses through both methods and only passed the lower threshold of a general bylaw demonstrates “why it was improper,” Judge Foster wrote.
Wednesday, the town of Charlton put a stamp of disapproval on the embattled plan to site the marijuana growing operation at Charlton Orchards.
The $100 million project, next to a residential area, required Planning Board approval on two separate applications: a definitive subdivision plan and a site plan.
The board unanimously rejected the site plan on Jan. 2, and the company has appealed the decision in a pending Worcester Superior Court complaint.
The Land Court question applied to the subdivision plan that Valley Green Grow submitted to Charlton planning authorities last year.
The dispute was one of several to emerge since Valley Green Grow proposed a greenhouse complex that would include a processing center and co-generation facility.
- Material from The Cape Cod Times was used in this report.
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