Blue Hill considers scrapping cannabis moratorium

Board also seeks residents for new fire station and budget committees

By Tricia Thomas

BLUE HILL—The Blue Hill select board is considering whether to scrap a six-month moratorium on recreational cannabis shops after voters on November 4 rejected a balloted pathway to opening one.

Select board member D. Scott Miller said this week that, since voters denied a proposal for Blue Hill to “opt in” to a Maine law that allows recreational, adult-use cannabis sales, a moratorium on such sales is no longer needed. The board had proposed the moratorium to give it time to develop an ordinance governing recreational dispensaries, should the referendum be approved. However, voters turned down the referendum 760 to 582.

“Since the referendum question didn’t pass, do we want to repeal the moratorium or just wait 180 days and let it lapse?  My view I that we should just let it lapse, because calling a special town meeting to repeal it doesn’t make sense,” Miller said at the board’s regular meeting on November 10. 

“Wouldn’t now be the time to write an ordinance for approval at the town meeting so that, when the next person shows up for a retail marijuana establishment, those rules are in place?” asked fire chief John Chapman, who attended the meeting along with a handful of residents.

“Even though the vote was probably closer than it had been in the past, the town voted last week not to do it,” Miller said. “My question would be, ‘why should we spend legal funds to develop an ordinance for something the town doesn’t want?’ ”

Miller added that a new moratorium could be drafted if the matter comes up for a town vote in the future. He suggested that the board consult chair Ellen Best, who was absent from the meeting, before making a decision.

30 Tenney Hill advisory committee

In other business, the board announced that it would post a brief application on its website this week to fill “three to four” spots on an ad-hoc advisory committee to oversee development at 30 Tenney Hill, a property the town purchased earlier this year. A portion of the 17-acre property, formerly owned by George Stevens Academy, will be used for a new fire station and emergency services building.

Some residents already have come forward to express interest in being on the committee and will be considered along with any new applicants, said select board member Amanda Woog. 

Applications for the committee also will be available in printed form at the town hall and sent by mail or email to those who’ve already expressed interest, Miller said. Completed applications are due back to the town by Friday, November 21.

Budget committee

The board also announced that it is seeking three candidates for its budget committee, which will begin meeting early next year to review and make recommendations on the town’s proposed 2026-2027 municipal budget.

When appointed by the board, the three new committee members will join incumbents Carolyn Moor and Sean Dooley. They will replace former committee members John Richardson and Aran Lawrence, who have stepped down, and Amanda Woog, who was elected to the select board last spring.

According to information on the town website, the budget committee “is responsible for reviewing the Town’s finances and providing an independent perspective on the Select Board and School Committee recommendations to Town voters.”