SANFORD — A bid to begin the process of repealing the city’s ordinance that prohibits marijuana cultivation, nurseries, manufacturing, testing and retail storefronts got just one positive vote at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Some city councilors voting against the proposal said they’d prefer an approach that addresses each category individually.

Deputy Mayor Lucas Lanigan said the Marijuana Task Force that he chairs is eyeing an approach that would see the prohibition lifted first on testing facilities, once zoning and other local standards have been worked out, before moving to the other categories of Maine’s recreational marijuana industry.

“We want to find the right zoning …. we have an opportunity to build the industry here the way we want it to be,” Lanigan said.

Councilor Robert Stackpole, who would later that evening cast the sole vote in favor of lifting the prohibition, saw it differently:

“I don’t look at recreational marijuana as wrong or right, good or bad,” said Stackpole “I look at is as economic development. … You can’t pursue it if there is a prohibition in place. It’s that simple.”

He said with the prohibition in place, Sanford may be losing out economically to other communities.

Lanigan, Mayor Tom Cote and Councilors Maura Herlihy, John Tuttle and Joseph Hanslip voted against the proposal. Councilor Fred Smith was absent.

Sanford instituted the prohibition in August. At the time, Cote said one of the reasons the prohibition ordinance was created was to slow down or eliminate real estate speculation.

The State Legislature passed a recreational marijuana bill in April, 18 months after the November 2016 passage of the citizen referendum to legalize recreational marijuana in Maine. Rule-making is expected to take several more months.

City Manager Steve Buck pointed out that in order to allow any of the five categories of the recreational marijuana industry in Sanford, the City Council would not only have to lift the prohibition, but also follow state law for opting into each category. He likened the “opt in” process to how Maine communities approved alcohol sales — a municipality was considered “dry” unless it expressly voted to be “wet.”

Buck pointed out that representatives of the medical marijuana industry in Sanford have suggested an approach that sees the city work on land use and zoning. He noted the city already has a medical marijuana overlay zone.

Stackpole and Cote have been somewhat at odds over the marijuana prohibition issue for several months.

At the end of the May 1 City Council meeting, Stackpole said he believed it was time to discuss lifting the prohibition. Cote said he “wouldn’t block it,” and suggested holding a Marijuana Task Force meeting.

“You stacked the deck on the Marijuana Task Force … why go back to them,” said Stackpole who resigned from the Marijuana Task Force in August, when the City Council voted in favor of prohibition.

Cote pointed out at the May 1 meeting, that other issues go to a subcommittee before appearing on a council agenda.

The Marijuana Task Force is made up of three city councilors — Lanigan, Herlihy and Tuttle — representatives from the medical marijuana industry, some city staff and representatives of drug prevention programs. It met prior to Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The prohibition that remains in effect has no impact on personal possession and use.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.