Following a recent public hearing on proposed ordinances governing methadone clinics and medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities, the Waldoboro Planning Board made minor changes to their draft ordinances.
The draft ordinances will now be sent to the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen for their review and approval, before the ordinances go before voters for final approval.
The methadone clinic ordinance will now include a restriction limiting the number of clinics in Waldoboro to one; the medical marijuana ordinance already included this restriction.
The methadone clinic ordinance will now also govern “other opiate treatment facilities,” said Waldoboro Planning and Development Director Misty Gorski.
At the public hearing, residents raised questions about whether the ordinances could contain restrictions governing the staff at the facilities. At the meeting to amend the drafts, the Planning Board decided they do not have the authority to place restrictions on staffing or create licensing requirements.
“The board doesn’t have the authority to require background checks in a site plan review,” Gorski said. The board will forward the suggestion to the selectmen, who have the authority to institute such restrictions.
In their current form, the draft ordinances allow state regulations to govern most details of methadone clinic and medical marijuana dispensary operation, placing specific restrictions on only a handful of aspects.
Under the draft ordinances, the following restrictions will be placed on methadone clinics and other opiate treatment facilities, and medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities:
For any of these types of facilities, approval by the Planning Board will be contingent on appropriate state certification.
All three types of facilities will be restricted to the Rt. 1 Commercial A District. This district consists of a band following Rt. 1 from the Nobleboro line to just before the intersection with Rt. 32, then from about Moody’s Diner to the Warren line.
Ample parking must be provided at the facilities, and methadone clinics are required to have sufficient inside seating. “Waiting or queuing of patients outside of the clinic building will not be tolerated.”
No such restrictions on waiting areas are provided in the medical marijuana facility ordinance.
For medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities, all related activities, including, but not limited to, “cultivating, growing, processing, displaying, selling and storage shall be conducted indoors and shall not be visible from outside.”
The ordinance requires “evidence of on-site security” at all three types of facilities. “At a minimum … facilities shall have door and window intrusion alarms with audible and police notification components.”
Medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities are also required to have video surveillance. Cultivation facilities are required to have 24-hour video surveillance; dispensaries are required to have video surveillance at a minimum “at all times that the facility is not open to patients.”
No video surveillance is specifically required at methadone clinics.
The draft ordinance also states that only one of each type of facility will be allowed in Waldoboro.
