NORTHAMPTON — A proposal to cap the number of marijuana dispensaries in the city to 12 is working its way through the City Council, with one of its sponsors describing the current cannabis environment as an “unhealthy market.”

“I’ve talked to many of our local cannabis retail owners, and they are very much in favor of a cap,” Ward 7 City Councilor Rachel Maiore said at the council’s Dec. 15 meeting where she co-sponsored an ordinance to limit the number of shops citywide. “I think our legal adults have reasonable access at this point.”

Joining Maiore in sponsoring the ordinance were Karen Foster of Ward 2 and Marianne LaBarge of Ward 6.

The idea of imposing a cap on the number of marijuana dispensaries that are allowed in Northampton began in early fall amid ongoing controversy over plans to open the first such shop in Florence at the current Main Street site of Pizza Factory. That proposal failed after the Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra declined to approve a community host agreement, citing its location. The mayor said at the time that she is opposed to imposing a cap on the number of dispensaries within city limits.

Since then, The Source, one of the dozen cannabis establishments operating in Northampton, closed on Dec. 16 after 10 months in business. The Source notified the Cannabis Control Commission on Dec. 22 that it had ceased operations, with potential to relocate in the future. According to the CCC, other marijuana establishment licensees have either temporarily ceased operations or surrendered their license permanently in the past.

Emmaline Lewis, a spokesperson for The Source, said it was refocusing its strategy toward investing more in the company’s home state of Nevada.

“Due to the specific business environment in Northampton, The Source has made the difficult decision to close our retail location,” Lewis said in a statement. “We want to thank the community of Northampton for the support they have shown us since day one.”

Not a new idea

The idea of limiting the number of dispensaries in the city is not new. In 2018, the council voted on a potential ordinance to cap the number at 10, a measure that was narrowly defeated by a vote of 5-4 at its first reading.

“When things got shot down during the first reading, it meant people really didn’t like it,” said City Council President Jim Nash, who sponsored the 2018 proposal.

The original proposal was intended as a backstop in case the then-nascent cannabis business became too much to control in the city. Nash’s Ward 3 currently contains six cannabis establishments, but he says the impact on the overall community has been minimal since the initial craze when they first opened.

“It’s been remarkably good for us,” he said. “I consider it the same as law offices and dentists in terms of impact.”

In proposing the new ordinance, Maiore described the current makeup of cannabis businesses in the city as an “unhealthy market,” based on her discussions with current shop owners.

The proposed cap would not apply to applicants that the CCC qualifies as social equity candidates, such as business owners of color or people who formerly lived in areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. The council voted to send the ordinance to the city’s Committee on Legislative Matters, which holds its next meeting on Monday.

Stanley Moulton, a member of the committee and the councilor for Ward 1, said one of the concerns likely to be discussed at Monday’s meeting is whether the exception for social equity candidates could create a loophole in which a qualified social equity candidate creates a new establishment only to flip it to an interested buyer afterward.

“I have questions about the actual mechanisms that would be in place to ensure that a social equity applicant would not simply be working on behalf of a large out-of-town corporation,” Moulton said.

Mayor Sciarra voiced similar concerns in October in a press release explaining why she declined to sign a community host agreement for the Florence dispensary called Euphorium.

She said that an “arbitrary ceiling could inflate a secondary market for licenses that helps large corporations box out smaller businesses, Social Equity Program participants, and Certified Economic Empowerment Priority entrepreneurs.”

The mayor said Northampton should continue to supportive a well-regulated and equitable cannabis industry that expands the city’s tax base.

“Artificially constraining the cannabis market is unnecessary at a time when neighboring states — Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont — are entering the retail cannabis market, and applications for new Northampton licenses have already waned in the past two years.”

Should the committee decide to make a recommendation on the proposed ordinance, it would be sent back to the council to be voted on at its Jan. 19 meeting.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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