Recreational pot shops on hold for portions of Orono as future is debated
ORONO, Maine — The future of recreational pot stores remains uncertain in Orono after the town discovered contradicting language in its ordinance that would allow the shops to set up just steps from the University of Maine.
Despite residents approving a measure in March that would allow for recreational marijuana stores, the initial ordinance drafted and enacted by the Town Council limited the shops to the commercial one district — which is centered around the University Mall shopping center on Stillwater Avenue — and commercial two district, which is made up of a corridor of Park Street from the intersection with Crosby Street to the Reserve apartment complex.
The two zones cover portions of Stillwater Avenue, around Interstate 95 in Orono, as well as Park Street as it heads toward Rangeley Road.
The ordinance also placed different buffers between recreational marijuana shops and other businesses like schools, churches and childcare centers.
After potential retailers started inquiring about different locations within the two zones, the council and Town Planner Kyle Drexler realized that based on how the ordinance was enacted recreational pot shops could open up steps away from one of the main entrances to UMaine.
“When we were drafting the ordinance what was communicated was that it was the intent of the University and the Council to specifically not allow stores in that area,” Drexler said.
In response, the council issued a moratorium effectively taking any potential shop locations on Park Street, in the commercial two district, off the table for the time being.
From the start, the area around Park Street — currently off the table — wasn’t a location where many, if any, stores could have moved in, Drexler said.
“It’s not an incredibly long corridor, to begin with, but I mean, I don’t ever think it was a situation where there are going to be tons and tons of opportunities for stores to go in,” he said. “It’s hard to say that even if it were allowed what the potential is for the number of stores to really go in there.”
So that leaves just the areas on Stillwater Avenue, in the district one and two areas, for the potential locations of recreational marijuana stores.
But after the planning board approved an application for a recreational marijuana store to open in the University Mall in May, that leaves maybe one or two lots that could be designated for the shops due to the ordinance requiring all marijuana stores to be 500 feet apart, Drexler said.
When he was working with the council to draft the initial ordinance, Drexler said the town used the existing rules and ordinances around other types of retail stores and pasted those onto recreational marijuana shops.
When it came to looking at where in town these stores might be located, he said there was little thought given to what was already there.
“When we were creating the initial ordinance language, we didn’t necessarily look at the existing uses all over town like where every single childcare facility is or where every single church is,” Drexler said. “It was more the big picture, this zone should, in general, allow marijuana retail stores, this zone shouldn’t.”
During the Town Council’s June 17 community development committee meeting, councilors couldn’t solve the mismatching ordinance language.
“I’m actually kind of torn, I was a guy that was opposed to having marijuana sales period,” Council Chairperson Tom Perry said. “But it seems to me that when we had a vote, it seems to me, the public thought there would be some sort of allowed use on some part of Park Street.”
Others on the council disagreed during the meeting, like Councilor Laura Mitchell, who said Park Street should be completely removed from the ordinance.
Mitchell said the town and UMaine already have to manage “largely disorderly gatherings,” and that recreational marijuana shops should be located as far away from campus as possible.
Drexler said he hasn’t begun looking into the council’s feedback from the June 17 meeting quite yet, but the collective hope is to fix the problems with the ordinance by August.