Wayland Select Board refers seven zoning articles to Planning Board

WAYLAND -- August 20, 2018, Wayland Select Board refers seven zoning articles, including five on marijuana, back to the Planning Board. The 4-0 vote teed up a special fall town meeting and an Oct. 2 ballot question on whether to permanently prohibit marijuana establishments townwide. Town Planner Sarkis Sarkissian outlined a cascading structure: a townwide ban first, then a Boston Post Road "Marijuana Establishment District A" near the Sudbury line, then additional districts in the town center and Cochituate village, with a moratorium extension to December 2019 as a fallback. Without the bylaw, Sarkissian warned, retailers could open in any commercially zoned parcel, about five percent of town land, and "we wouldn't be able to regulate it." A separate article, prompted by the pending federal sale of the Launcher Way property, would bar conversion of nonconforming rental complexes of six or more units. The board also signed the state primary warrant 4-0 and deferred a vote on Oct. 2 ballot language by one week.