Sharon residents petition for revote on cannabis sales
Published: 10-23-2024 7:00 PM |
SHARON — Residents have reignited the effort to permit retail cannabis sales in town with a petition for another vote on the issue.
Last week, voters rejected — by just two votes — a ballot measure that would have allowed the sale of recreational cannabis products in town.
On Monday, the Town Clerk’s office received a “petition for a reconsideration of vote for Retail Cannabis opt-in,” Town Clerk Catherine Sartor said Wednesday. The petition contained 72 valid signatures, which meets the threshold for the required 5% of registered voters needed to prompt a vote.
The Oct. 15 vote was itself prompted by a petition started by Sean Trombly, a Chelsea resident who owns Trombly’s House of Cannabis, a cannabis cultivation operation. Earlier this year, Trombly purchased the former Sandy’s diner building on Route 14, hoping to convert it into a retail dispensary with an adjacent food and ice cream venue.
Some residents who opposed the ballot measure last week expressed concerns about increased traffic through town and the proximity of the Sandy’s building to Sharon’s three schools, each about a mile away from the former diner.
Supporters said that allowing cannabis sales would be convenient and contribute to the local economy. Vermont legalized recreational cannabis sales in 2022, but it requires each town to “opt in” to allowing those sales through a public vote.
Sartor did not say what the timeline for a new vote would be. According to Vermont statute 17 V.S.A. §2643, a special meeting must be warned within 60 days of the town clerk receiving the petition.
Regardless of the results of a second vote, Trombly’s plans to open a retail dispensary will be delayed by a moratorium on new retail and cultivator licenses that takes effect Oct. 25. The temporary pause on new licenses was imposed by the Cannabis Control Board in an effort to protect businesses by preventing the oversaturation of markets in the state’s higher-population areas. There is currently no timeline for how long the pause may last.
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Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.