NORTHAMPTON — The City Council voted late Thursday to limit the number of marijuana retailers within its borders to 12, with proponents successfully arguing that the market is oversaturated and that a limit is needed to protect the city’s youth.

“Residents and visitors have reasonable access to their people’s right to legally purchase cannabis, and I feel like we’ve achieved that in Northampton,” said Ward 7’s Rachel Maiore, an ordinance co-sponsor. “I don’t really see how we can deny that there are legitimate concerns about the unintended consequences of the intense saturation of cannabis.”

The ordinance passed by a 6-3 vote after a lengthy discussion. In addition to Maiore, it was sponsored by councilors Marianne LaBarge of Ward 6, Karen Foster of Ward 2, all of whom voted in favor on Thursday. They were joined by Ward 5’s Alex Jarrett, at-large councilor Jamila Gore and Ward 1’s Stanley Moulton.

“As city councilors, we are not anti-business,” LaBarge said at the meeting, which stretched for almost five hours. “We have a job, and we have heard from so many people to place a cap. And that’s important to me.”

Voting against the ordinance were Ward 3’s Jim Nash, at-large councilor Marissa Elkins and Ward 4’s Garrick Perry.

“I’m concerned that we have a limited amount of information about who this provision is going to benefit,” said Elkins in explaining her opposition to the ordinance.

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 city currently has the second-most dispensaries behind Boston. The proposal to impose coincided with the closure of the Source, dropping the total number of dispensaries in the city to 11.

Sciarra, who opposes a cap, has the ability to veto the ordinance, sending it back to council for another vote. If she does so, the ordinance would need to be approved by a two-thirds majority, or six votes, to override the veto.

Opponents of a cap argue that the establishments provide tax revenue and open storefronts, and a limit would merely create a secondary market for licenses to operate in the city, to be bought and sold by larger corporate interests.

“I know if I owned a dispensary and I found out that my failing businesses and suddenly because of a cap, my license became valuable, the first thing I would do is get on the phone with a multistate operator,” Perry said. “I would try to leverage my license for more money.”

The ordinance received a neutral recommendation from the Committee on Legislative Matters. The four-member committee had itself been split 2-2 regarding whether to give a neutral or negative recommendation, until Nash changed his vote to neutral in order to move the ordinance back to council.

Nash had originally proposed a cap on the number of cannabis stores in 2018 when the first dispensaries were opening in the city, but has since reversed his position on the matter, voting against the cap.

“There are some empty shops, and having businesses to fill those shops is good,” he said at the meeting.

Councilors also discussed marijuana retailers that are defined as “social equity candidates,” such as those whose owners are people of color or from areas adversely affected by the war on drugs. The ordinance proposed that social equity candidates would be exempt from such a limit, leading opponents of the cap to allege such an exemption could provide a loophole to exploit in founding new businesses.

“I hear the concerns about social equity candidates being able to sell their licenses,” Maiore said. “I would say our current system is doing zero about social equity better. At least resources have a better chance of passing through the hands of social equity business owners.”

Many Northampton residents also took advantage of the council’s public comments period to voice their support or opposition to the ordinance, with most who spoke being in favor of the cap.

Michael Willers, a Florence resident and a pediatric cardiologist by practice, spoke in favor of the cap.

“Cannabis can cause cardiac arrhytmias, heart rhythm problems, and I’ve seen in my own practice,” he said. “I’m not anti-marijuana. I am however, pro-youth and pro-Northampton.”

For Florence resident Jackie Ballance, the current number of retailers in the city is plenty sufficient to cover any cannabis needs.

“I never in my wildest dreams when I was in college back in the 60s that I would one day complain there were too many pot shops in town,” she said. “Truly, this is the nicest problem anybody should have.”

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