ROYALTON — The selectboard has voted unanimously to let voters decide in November if they want retail cannabis in town, sparked by a local dispensary owner’s interest in setting up shop.
The board opted not to require signed support from 5% of registered voters to place the question on the ballot this fall, though some board members were interested in a petition.
The decision came after resident Shannon Morrill inquired about Royalton as a possible new location for her business, Something Wicked, which offers Vermont-grown medical and recreational cannabis.
While she’s satisfied with her current storefront in Bethel, Morrill pointed out in a June interview that there’s better foot traffic in Royalton. Among her customers are students at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, who now drive to Bethel, she said.
In a Tuesday comment, Morrill said she would love to have her dispensary in South Royalton having grown up there, though it’d be “premature” to focus on one location ahead of the vote.
Bethel’s village serves as a good spot itself, and Morrill said she’d miss the current location right on the waterfall.
“If South Royalton decided not to allow cannabis retail, we would continue to partner with businesses and community groups in Bethel to bring our fun witchy-vibe to the community,” said Morrill.
Vermont’s Act 164, passed in 2020, gives municipalities the option to allow cannabis sales with a majority town vote. In the Upper Valley, Hartford, Bethel, Bradford, Fairlee, Randolph, Strafford, Windsor and Woodstock have all opted in, though Royalton has not.
Morrill asked the board last month if the town would be open to proposing the idea on the Aug. 11 primary election ballot. While board members expressed interest, time for ballot preparation was short, and November was the natural next option.
At its July 15 meeting, the selectboard briefly debated whether to ask Morrill to secure the number of signatures needed to put a question on the ballot, though that’s not a requirement for the cannabis question.
Selectboard member Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom said he would be more comfortable if residents, rather than the selectboard, decided to put the question on the ballot, and if Morrill gathered the signatures.
“It puts the onus on her, which is where I think it belongs,” Bergstrom said, and the petition would serves as a “sign of seriousness.”
However, the board voted 3-2 not to ask Morrill to go through the petitioning process, and voted unanimously to place the question on the ballot.
Selectboard chair Patrick Dakin said the petition is not necessary, and simply putting the question on the ballot without the extra step makes things easier for Morrill.
“It’s a business that exists, and we have open storefronts,” Dakin said. And, in the end, he said, voters will still make the decision.
The selectboard has also considered proposing a 1% local option tax to voters at next year’s town meeting, allowing the town government to gain some revenue from local businesses.
For Something Wicked, 1% of its annual sales in Bethel would amount to $4,000, Morrill said at the meeting last month, though Bethel does not have the option tax.
Hartford has multiple dispensaries and the 1% option tax, which voters approved last year. There’s no breakdown on how much money cannabis retail brings in alone, but Hartford Town Manager John Haverstock anticipates a total of $1.1 million from the tax, which the town plans to put toward property tax relief.
“I hope that South Royalton voters have seen that my focus as a local small business owner is to run my dispensary with integrity in a responsible and community-focused manner,” said Morrill.
