EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton Planning Board and Easthampton City Council Ordinance Subcommittee unanimously recommended the creation of Marijuana Delivery and Marijuana Courier use categories to the full City Council.

The decision came after a lengthy discussion during a May 11 joint meeting where specific amendments were made to the regulations of the marijuana delivery and marijuana courier draft bylaw.

According to Easthampton City Planner Jeff Bagg, the new ordinance states that Easthampton will allow delivery operations between 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. As long as an order is placed before 11 p.m., a car can be dispatched out to make the delivery.

Marijuana delivery operators, under Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) law, are allowed to purchase and store wholesale marijuana or marijuana products in a warehouse-type location. Locations such as these, while allowed, cannot be present within Easthampton’s downtown business district. The warehouse will have to be stored in an already-existing building, as well.

Both groups also decided that it was best to not impose a limit on the amount of delivery establishments in town, with various arguments stating that competition and pursuit of citywide equity are the reasons why free market in this scenario is integral.

“There is no reason to cap these at all,” said Planning Board member James Zarvis. “This is already capped by competition.”

There was also a large discussion surrounding the logistics of operating a courier business from one’s home. “We’re trying to allow one person who might live in a house in Easthampton to go to a dispensary, deliver the product, and then come back to their house,” said Bagg.

Thomas Peake, an Easthampton City Council member, argued that he struggles to see how the idea of picking up product at a dispensary and bringing it to one’s home is any different from Door Dash or Uber. “In terms of how it impacts your neighbors, it really is not materially different from being an Uber, or Door Dash, or Lyft driver, which I doubt we regulate anyway,” he said.

Jesse Belcher-Timme, the chair of the Planning Board, argued that marijuana courier operations technically do not involve working from one’s home. The courier cannot store any product at their location, anyway. Ultimately, the board and Ordinance Subcommittee felt that it was best to permit couriers to leave their house to pick up product and deliver it somewhere else. If someone wants to apply as a home occupation, then they can go to the Zoning Board of Appeals to figure that process out.

The new amendment also states that couriers would also need a site plan approval rather than a special permit. This way, it makes it easier for couriers to get their permit, rather than having to go through an entire special permit process.

"The hurdles here are just so high for any smaller business to do this,” said Zarvis, with regard to becoming a courier in town. “I see no reason to put any other barriers at all in place.”

The Planning Board and Ordinance Subcommittee also voted unanimously to recommend two amendments that would help with the city’s pursuit of affordable housing for its residents.

The first amendment would allow multi-family dwellings with 15 percent affordable housing for 80 percent of area median income or 10 percent units affordable at 50 percent of area median income to be changed from “special permit” to “plan approval.” Street-level housing will also be allowed in highway business and mill industrial districts. Parking limits are relaxed for multi-family dwellings with affordable units. The amendment would apply to the R-5, R-10, R-15, R-35, R-40, R-80, DB, HB, NB, and MI zoning districts in the city.

The goal of this amendment is to incentivize the creation of new affordable housing by allowing more predictable permitting. The amendment would apply to all the same districts where this type of development is currently allowed by special permit.

“If you are doing very low income housing units, you need less of them to qualify,” said Peake.

The second amendment would allow accessory apartments in the city by right rather than by special permit, according to Peake.

“The special permit process can be intimidating for your average homeowner,” said Peake. “If we’re looking at places where we want to add housing units without clearing our remaining green space, the easiest way to do that is to get people to add housing units on already developed parcels. My thought is to streamline that process as much as we possibly can, while still being sensitive to setbacks.”

A public hearing will be conducted in a future City Council meeting for all of these amendments.