WOODSTOCK — While there may be cannabis dispensaries and nurseries opening in Woodstock, the highly trafficked village will be off-limits.

On Thursday, the Village of Woodstock defeated an article that would have authorized cannabis retailers in an 80-53 vote.

That decision came just weeks after the Town of Woodstock passed an article legalizing cannabis retailers in a 448-387 vote.

“The fact that it got approved in the town, for one thing, meant that voters said — well, there can be a dispensary, but why do we need it in our central district?” said Jeff Kahn, who serves on the Village Board of Trustees.

The village is a municipality within the Town of Woodstock, and its residents vote at both Town Meeting and Village Meeting. The village’s boundaries include the historic downtown and commercial heart of Woodstock. On Route 4, its boundary begins near Pizza Chef and ends just past the Homestead, a residential care facility.

Three local people interested in retail cannabis inquired about open commercial space in the Pizza Chef plaza, said Alex Tsouknakis, who owns the restaurant as well as the plaza. But as the plaza is just inside the village boundary, they will have to look elsewhere.

A letter to the editor of The Vermont Standard by Seton McIlroy and Devon Kurtz, who both serve on the Woodstock Cannabis Commission, focused on the fact that the village had little prospect of garnering direct revenue from a cannabis retailer. (McIlroy also serves as the chairwoman of the Village Board of Trustees. Kahn stepped down from chairman post on Wednesday and now serves as vice chairman.)

“It was by design a very boring article,” McIlroy said of the letter. “The only thing we both decided we wanted to emphasize was how much (money) goes to the state, while nothing comes to the municipality outside the fee.”

A survey in Woodstock showed that some residents were only interested in cannabis if it meant that the local government would have an additional revenue stream, she said.

McIlroy and Kurtz explained that while the state will profit from both a 6% sales tax and a 14% excise tax on cannabis sales, local municipalities will get nothing more than a $100 fee for a local license.

“This fee will likely not cover the cost incurred by Woodstock to process the application and to manage any increase in public health and safety needs,” they wrote.

The Vermont Cannabis Control Board has recommended that the Legislature direct 1% to 2% of the excise tax to municipalities, in part to increase local support.

When the town voted, there was another possibility of a direct revenue stream: There was a 1% local sales tax on the warning on Town Meeting day, but it was defeated in a narrow vote. A Woodstock resident requested a recount after the initial 426-417 vote tally, the closest on the ballot. While the recount tweaked the final tally to 425-415, the tax still failed to pass.

McIlroy and Kurtz also explained that Vermont municipalities cannot create new regulations specific to retail cannabis dispensaries, although the state prohibits them from opening within 500 feet of a school.

Leading up to the vote, a strong proponent and a strong opponent both took to the Woodstock listserv to make their cases.

Patricia Eames, who owns Clover Gift Shop downtown, sells CBD and wrote in favor of “allowing safe, regulated adult use cannabis sales” that would “boost economic development and bring a multitude of benefits to the village.”

“A lot of people look at it (cannabis) as a recreational drug, but there are a lot of health benefits for some people,” she told the Valley News in an interview last month.

She argued that the high expense and limited availability of commercial space outside the village would make it more likely that large, out-of-state cannabis corporations would open dispensaries in Woodstock, rather than local businesses. Legal cannabis may also reduce youth access to the drug, especially as there is likely an illegal market in Woodstock, she wrote.

But Dr. Clare Drebitko, a pediatrician with an office downtown, argued cannabis had no place in the village where the local schools are located and youth walk and bike. She detailed studies that showed everything from worsening anxiety and depression in people younger than 25 who use cannabis, to higher rates of accidental ingestion of cannabis in very young children when retail availability increases.

“Such data suggests that retail cannabis sales should be off the beaten path, not in the heart of a community,” she concluded.

But health and municipal budgeting were not the only issues at play.

“I’m not surprised,” said Beth Finlayson, the director at the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce. “I just think people have an idea of a classic village setting in Vermont, and it didn’t really meet that aesthetic.”

Meanwhile, Vermont’s cannabis regulations allow towns to establish “local cannabis control commissions,” and the Woodstock Cannabis Commission will transition into a regulatory body, McIlroy said. First, they will develop licensing guidelines for the Town of Woodstock, she said.

The vote does not close the door to cannabis in downtown Woodstock forever; the Village of Woodstock could opt in to allow cannabis retailers any year it chooses.

McIlroy said that could happen “if we have constituents who want to push for it, and there’s a groundswell, but there would have to be some significant changes.”

Claire Potter is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at cpotter@vnews.com or 603-727- 3242.