The Scarborough Town Council has passed amendments to the town’s Cannabis Enforcement Ordinance that stemmed from persistent odor complaints from residents who live near cultivation facilities in the Pine Point and Pleasant Hill areas.

The amendments, approved 6-1 last week, give police officers the authority to verify odor complaints rather than only the Code Enforcement Department having that responsibility. It also creates a licensing requirement for property owners who lease space to cannabis cultivators to hold them accountable for odor complaints, too.

“(The new license) was seen as an avenue to address cannabis facilities that receive a multitude of complaints, but they have multiple (cultivators),” Assistant Town Manager Liam Gallagher said at the July 17 Council meeting. “It’s an extra level of accountability and process for cannabis property owners to have some skin in the game.”

The Code Enforcement Department was previously the only department with the authority to go to the site of a complaint and verify it. While emergency calls would take precedence, town staff and councilors believe police officers already patrolling the town can verify complaints more quickly.

“When a complaint comes to the town with any odor, a town employee will be dispatched,” Gallagher said. “It’s to try and chase down every complaint in the town as opposed to waiting for a certain number of complaints to be received.”

If multiple residents make complaints about one site in the same 24-hour period, and they are verified, those count as just one verified complaint. Licensees would be fined $100 to $2,500 for each day they are in violation of the ordinance.

The fifth time there are verified complaints in a 24-hour period, the business or property owner in violation would have their license come before the council for a hearing.

Councilor Don Cushing opposed the amendments. He argued the window for complaints to be lumped into one verified complaint should be 72 hours rather than 24, saying there is a difference between an odor lingering for a brief period of time and an odor being persistent.

“I still don’t believe this ordinance is well crafted despite all of the time and hard work that people have put in on it, and I still don’t believe we’ve really adequately addressed the issue of enforcement in a way that, if I were a business owner, gives me comfort that my rights would be protected,” Cushing said. “All we’ve done is expanded the people who enforce it, but we really haven’t done anything to say ‘what’s the timeframe.’ We’re talking about odor that is transient … I think that this ordinance, as it stands, is odorific itself.”

Councilor Jon Anderson suggested those concerned about the ordinance should bring their thoughts to the ordinance committee as they’re drafting it.

“I encourage anybody who isn’t pleased with these things to go to the committee and offer your feedback,” Anderson said. “If you’re not pleased with things then get involved so that we debate them, and send (the complaints) in advance so we can have good conversations.”

The council also gave preliminary approval last week to an amendment that implements a 1,000-foot setback from residential properties for new cannabis cultivation establishments or current cultivation establishments seeking to expand.