IN THE POT ZONE

AUGUSTA -- A zone change that would allow a medical marijuana
dispensary to locate at a Middle Road property faces a public hearing
tonight.

In June, city councilors approved medical marijuana dispensary zoning
rules to limit the location of such facilities to the city's medical
district.

The district surrounds the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care and
proposed site of a new MaineGeneral Medical Center hospital off Old
Belgrade Road in north Augusta. The Planning Board is currently
considering a proposal to expand the medical district to include a
larger area of land along Old Belgrade Road.

The proposed expanded zone would include a 10 Middle Road property at
Old Belgrade Road that Northeast Patients Group is considering as a
potential site for a regional medical marijuana dispensary.

The state awarded Northeast Patients Group a license to establish a
medical marijuana dispensary in the region including Kennebec and
Somerset counties.

The property, a vacant, two-story metal-sided building listed as for
sale or lease, is not within the city's current medical district. But
maps of the proposed new, expanded medical district indicate the
proposed dispensary property would be within the new zone, city
attorney Stephen Langsdorf told councilors recently.

Matt Nazar, deputy development director for the city, said it's a
coincidence the Planning Board is considering zoning change to expand
the district while the site being considered for a dispensary
currently is beyond the zone's boundary.

The city's most recent comprehensive plan, adopted in 2007, says
medical and other nonresidential uses in the north Augusta area "...
should continue to be encouraged." And Nazar said planners have talked
for years about an expanded medical district in that area, before the
new state law allowing medical marijuana dispensaries came along.

"It's completely coincidental it's happening at this same time," Nazar
said.

Some neighbors to the site have expressed concerns about the building
possibly being used to distribute medical marijuana.

In Waterville -- the other city in the running for a dispensary in the
state's Kennebec-Somerset region -- lawmakers last week unanimously
passed a six-month moratorium on siting such a facility. The council
must take two more votes to finalize a moratorium.

The Augusta Planning Board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on
the rezoning proposal at its meeting tonight, which begins at 7 in the
lecture hall at Augusta City Center.

However, there's a chance the board may not get that far: The zoning
change proposal is the last of five items on the agenda tonight. Board
policy states applications will be heard in order until 10 p.m., after
which any review not started will be tabled to a future meeting.

Prior to the rezoning public hearing, board members are scheduled
to:

* Hold a public hearing to discuss the issue of noise from logging and
other forestry operations and investigate how concerns about noise
from such sites might be addressed. Some residents have complained to
city officials about logging operations making noise near their homes
early in the morning.

* Discuss firewood processing in rural districts in the
city.

* Hold a public hearing regarding an application from Cynthia Cipriano
to operate a retail business, selling used household items at her
residence near the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Bog Road.

* Hold a public hearing regarding a proposed change in use, from Gale
Loveitt, from a vacant restaurant to a parking lot and used car
dealership at 807 Riverside Drive.