Sean Trombley looks over plants as he cuts clones at his marijuana farm in Chelsea, Vermont, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. (Valley News – Jennifer Hawk) Copyright Valley News. Reprinted or used online without permission. You cannot do this. Please send your request to permission@vnews.com. jennifer hawk
SHARON — Voters will vote Oct. 15 to decide whether to allow retail cannabis stores in the city, with less than two weeks until the state stops issuing new retail licenses.
In August, Sharon received a petition asking for a public vote on the question from Sean Trombley, a Chelsea resident who wants to open a retail pharmacy in town. The petition was signed by 5% of Sharon's registered voters, the threshold for requiring a vote.
Trombley, who runs Trombley House of Cannabis in Chelsea, bought Sandy's, a roadside diner on Route 14 that closed due to a fire in 2022. He wants to turn the building into a retail cannabis dispensary that also sells food. And ice cream.
“I definitely think there’s a good enough market here to support it,” Trombley said of the proposed business in Sharon. The retail locations closest to Sharon are in Bethel, White River Junction, and Randolph.
A requirement that Vermont towns “opt in” to retail sales by popular vote has created an uneven geographic distribution of the state's 86 licensed recreational dispensaries. Burlington has 13 cannabis retail stores, while Morrisville, Rutland, Brandon and Montpelier each have four.
“People are gambling in areas with a larger population base, not in areas with smaller population centers,” Cannabis Control Commission Chairman James Pepper said by phone last week. This retail clustering has the Legislature and the Board of Supervisors concerned about the risks that retailers face in these oversaturated markets.
Retail cannabis is a “very difficult market to operate in,” Pepper said. “There are no lines of credit, there are no loans, and when people leave this industry, it's far more personally devastating than any other industry,” he said. Because the sale of cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, cannabis retailers cannot receive bankruptcy protection, insurance can be difficult to find, and most banks won't take the transaction so transactions must be made in cash. I have to.
But the trustees cannot selectively suspend licenses in areas that are saturated with retail, Pepper said. “We don't have the authority to do a localized shutdown. It has to be for the entire state,” he said.
As a result, starting October 25th, the state will begin suspending new retail cannabis licenses. The move comes two years after the first recreational retail license was granted in 2022.
Although the license suspension came as a surprise, Trombley said he is confident he can meet the Oct. 25 deadline if Sharon voters allow retail sales. If all goes as hoped, the pharmacy is expected to open in early 2025, he said.
“It helps to be a practitioner who is already in the system,” he said.
Sharon Selectboard Chairman Kevin Gish said by phone last week that he doesn't know much about how residents feel about retail sales. The town could bring the question before voters rather than wait to receive a petition, but Gish and Sharon Selectboard said, “That's a voter initiative, not something we did. “I was hoping for that,” he said.
His only concern if a cannabis retailer sets up shop in town is the potential for increased traffic from Interstate 89. “My concern at this point is that all the cars coming from the interstate have to go through the village,” he said.
If Sharon's voters decide to allow retail cannabis sales, Trombley's next step will be to apply to the Board of Supervisors for a license.
Sharon's voter information session will be held via Zoom on Monday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. at Sharon Congregational Church, 40 Route 132 in Sharon. Please see the town homepage for the link to Zoom.
Voting will take place at Sharon Town Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For information about absentee voting, contact Sharon Town Hall at 802-863-8268, 10 a.m. ext. 1, or clark@sharonvt.net.
Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.
