Townsend Planning Board takes no action on cannabis zoning petition, orders review

TOWNSEND -- May 4, 2026, Townsend Planning Board voted 4-0 to take no action on a citizen petition that would have loosened the town's marijuana zoning bylaws. Petitioner Colby Stringer argued that the current combination of a 500-foot buffer zone and an industrial-only location requirement leaves virtually no viable site in town for any marijuana establishment, illustrating the point with GIS mapping that identified a single potentially compliant parcel. Town counsel's legal opinion, read into the record, warned that reclassifying marijuana as an agricultural use could, under the state's right-to-farm law, allow cultivation anywhere in town without a special permit, a consequence board members said they were not prepared to accept. Cannabis operator and resident Brooke Sherrod testified that neighboring communities are collecting tax revenue Townsend is forgoing, and noted the state Cannabis Control Commission independently enforces a 500-foot school buffer regardless of local zoning. The board, newly reorganized with Andrew Shepard re-elected chair and Carol Hoffs elected vice chair, said it intends to study bylaws from surrounding towns and submit revised language at a future town meeting.