Local leaders in Northampton may soon explore limiting any new cannabis retailers in the city, where 12 dispensaries are already open, as the community grapples with a booming marijuana market that some say has become oversaturated.
City councilors carry mixed feelings on capping the number of dispensaries allowed in Northampton. But when asked, most said they are open to the possibility and want to hear the arguments for and against a limit on pot shops.
As is allowed by the state, other municipalities have chosen to cap the number of cannabis retailers that can do business in town. Easthampton, for example, permits no more than six dispensaries. Amherst allows up to eight recreational dispensaries, and does not cap medical marijuana establishments, the town planning department said.
Northampton councilors elected to place no such limit when they established regulations on local cannabis businesses in 2018. Four years later, that may change.
“I think the folks, both the council and residents, would benefit from having further discussion around this,” City Council President James Nash said. “Let’s take a look back. We’re four years in. What were our concerns, where do we stand right now and what have we learned? I think that’s always a helpful thing to do.”
The City Council could at any time have decided to enact a cap on host community agreements — the state-required sign-off from local government for a business to seek a license in the cannabis industry.
Former Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz issued host community agreements, or HCAs, to each of 13 prospective dispensaries. Twelve are now operating in town, while the final shop awaits approval from state regulators.
Today, Northampton sees the results, benefits and concerns of not limiting HCAs.
Cannabis entrepreneurs flocked to the city, knowing it was among the friendliest in the region to the burgeoning marijuana industry. On average, a dispensary has opened in Northampton every two months over the last year. Shoppers in downtown Northampton can now visit seven dispensaries without walking more than a few blocks. The businesses have brought the city roughly $4.5 million in tax revenue in the last three fiscal years.
But the influx of pot shops has also carried concerns — from some of the business operators themselves, who worry whether 12 dispensaries can survive alongside each other, and from a portion of city residents who disapprove of the sharp rise of cannabis retailers in the community.
Until August, there was little vocal interest from residents in placing a limit on the number of dispensaries in town, multiple city councilors said. The prospect of the city’s 14th dispensary — proposed in the village of Florence — changed that.
Some village residents are adamantly opposed to the idea of a dispensary in their neighborhood, citing concerns for local residents dealing with addiction, their suspected influence of cannabis on children and families in the area, and a belief that the 12 operating dispensaries are enough for the city. The hopeful owners of Euphorium, the Florence dispensary, contend that the opposition comes from a small portion of the populace and that many people in Florence want a more convenient option for cannabis shopping than the dozen pot shops open more than two miles away in the city center.
But after a tense community meeting on Euphorium on Aug. 15, during which dozens of Florence residents voiced staunch opposition to the business, some of the city councilors said that they wanted to reexamine what a limit on cannabis retailers in Northampton would look like.
“I think it hit a nerve, this location, and it brought up concerns not just about this location but also about what Northampton needs,” Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore said. “Are people concerned about being the ‘cannabis capital?’”
City Councilor Alex Jarrett, whose Ward 5 district includes the Florence Center storefront eyed by the new dispensary, said he is not yet sure how he feels about a cap on HCAs. He wants to make decisions based on data and wants to hear from constituents in a formal City Council setting.
“We do have a limit on liquor [licenses],” he said after the contentious meeting in Florence over the proposed dispensary in the village. “Should there be one on marijuana here? We have that option.”
Other city councilors more strongly support the idea of a cap on the number of dispensaries. Reached by phone, Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge said she was in favor of it. Other councilors said that they thought there should be a cap, but still wanted to hear more about the prospect of one before discussing it publicly.
Ward 1 Councilor Stanley Moulton said the discussion should be divorced from the possibility of a particular dispensary receiving an HCA — which the City Council has no say in.
Moulton, as with many of his colleagues, said he was willing to hear the arguments for and against a cap — “But I would look at that apart from my opinion on any one dispensary moving in,” he said.
The last time the City Council discussed a limit on marijuana retailers — in 2018 — Nash and former Ward 2 Councilor Dennis Bidwell proposed a 10-business cap — though Bidwell said at the time that he thought it was “very unlikely” that Northampton would need such a cap. The measure did not pass.
Nash said last week that he has not heard complaints about the nine dispensaries operating in his Ward 3, which occupies a large section of the center of town, nor has he heard of significant issues with those outside his constituency.
His statements fall in line with what Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has said about the dispensaries: that she hears few, “if any,” complaints, and that they have been “really good neighbors” and respectful, involved community members.
A discussion on limiting dispensaries is expected to come up before the City Council Committee on Finance, which will meet Sept. 7, Maiore said. But the issue may also be raised before other committees, or during a meeting of the full council.
Ezra Parzybok — a Northampton resident and marijuana industry consultant who is advising the owners of Euphorium — said he opposed caps on cannabis retailers. A cap will create a secondary market, he said, in which businesses can sell their HCA, similar to how a bar can sell its liquor license to the highest bidder.
“It makes them higher-value, which makes entry into the industry by those who are small business owners, local players, social equity participants, much harder,” he said. “I don’t support caps. It’s not because I think there should be a pot shop on every corner, but because I support diversity in the industry.”
The caveat, Parzybok said, is that a cap on marijuana retailers could help the smaller dispensaries that already exist in town by limiting their competition.
“It’s not a black and white issue,” he said. “It is quite a complicated issue.”
“The issue is actually pretty complex,” Nash said. “I think Northampton is capable of having an instructive conversation. We’ve done it before and we can do it.”
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