Blue Hill to vote on pot shop. But there could still be a moratorium.
By Tricia Thomas
BLUE HILL—Blue Hill voters will decide on Nov. 4 if they want a recreational marijuana shop, as well as whether to have a moratorium to allow the town time to create local rules for the business.
The Blue Hill select board voted on October 27 to amend a previously advertised town warrant to include two additional matters for voters to consider on November 4. One of the two added warrant articles, if approved, would place an 180-day moratorium on recreational cannabis dispensaries in the town.
Town officials have said that the proposed moratorium, if approved at a 7:30 a.m. special town meeting on November 4, would not conflict with a separate, related referendum already on the ballot. The referendum asks voters to decide whether Blue Hill should “opt in” to a Maine law that allows recreational adult-use cannabis dispensaries. If approved, it would require the town to allow one recreational dispensary and draft an ordinance to govern it.
Select board member D. Scott Miller said that the board drafted the moratorium to give it time to develop such an ordinance. Once developed, passage of the ordinance would require a town vote, likely in the spring.
“The select board thought it was appropriate to propose a moratorium to allow the town time to determine what regulation would be appropriate if the town were to ‘opt-in’ pursuant to the referendum question,” Miller wrote in response to emailed questions. “While that question anticipates development of an ordinance to regulate cannabis establishments, it did not prohibit such establishments from going into business before the regulation ordinance was defined and approved.”
The question of whether a recreational cannabis shop could be sited in Blue Hill was first posed by Sedgwick resident Brian Sherwell last April, when he attended a board meeting, expressed interest in opening a dispensary, and asked the board how to proceed. Board chair Ellen Best instructed Sherwell to mount a petition, with at least 10 percent of Blue Hill’s approximately 1,700 registered voters, to advance the matter to a public vote. She also cautioned him that Blue Hill voters have twice rejected similar plans.
Sherwell turned in his completed petition in early September, with 179 verified signatures from Blue Hill voters who supported a vote on the issue. The select board then drafted a referendum on the question, which was posted on the town website on September 29. A public hearing was held on the matter on October 22, which was attended by Sherwell and his wife, Abril. No other residents spoke either for or against the matter.
The proposed moratorium ordinance, which is available on the town website, cites several reasons for banning recreational cannabis shops, including “the potential adverse health and safety effects of cannabis establishments on the community,” “the possibility of illicit sale and use of cannabis and cannabis products to minors,” and “potential criminal activity associated with the cultivation, manufacturing, sale and use of cannabis and cannabis products for nonmedicinal purposes.”
Miller said that the proposed moratorium would not affect a licensed medical dispensary on Ellsworth Road, which sells cannabis products to patrons who have a state-issued medical card.
“We drafted the moratorium ordinance specifically to avoid affecting the medical marijuana dispensary, so we do not expect any impact from adoption of the moratorium. Whether any future ordinance might affect medical marijuana dispensaries remains to be seen—although there may be limits on municipalities’ ability to regulate such dispensaries if there was a desire to do so,” Miller said.
“The current moratorium was proposed simply to protect the town’s interests during the period between a ‘yes’ vote on opting in and adoption of reasonable regulation of cannabis establishments (specifically excluding regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries),” he added.
Sherwell said that he plans to attend the early-morning special town meeting, but does not object to the proposed moratorium.
“It will give Blue Hill the confidence to move forward in a measured and thoughtful way. I have no desire to push anything on the town that would make them comfortable,” he said by email.
The select board also voted on October 27 to include a second warrant article to the scheduled town meeting, asking voters to appropriate a total of $485,160 “for certain municipal expenditures that were not anticipated in the 2025 annual budget.”
According to Miller, these expenditures include $80,000 for the purchase of a second, “lightly used” plow truck for its public works department and $385,650 to pay off the town’s new fire truck, which was delivered earlier this year, as well as funds to cover property tax abatements deemed appropriate by the select board.
The special town meeting will begin at 7:30 a.m. in the select board’s first-floor meeting room.
