Committee Charge

The Select Board hereby creates the Cannabis Mitigation Advisory Committee to advise the Community Impact Coordinator and the Select Board on the expenditure of community impact fees and the implementation of mitigation measures associated with the sale of recreational marijuana in Brookline. The committee shall consider and make recommendations on the expenditure of community impact funds in accordance with M.G.L. c. 94G, § 3(d). on topics including:

• Parking and traffic
• Storefront cannabis retails operations
• Litter
• Enforcement of public consumption laws
• Enforcement of violations of bylaws and state law

The Committee shall be made up of a Select Board Member, town staff, residents, and business owners or nonprofit organization representatives.

The Community Impact Coordinator shall be the primary staff liaison to the Committee and serve as an associate, non-voting member. In addition, staff representatives from the following town departments shall serve as associate, non-voting members of the Committee:

• Fire
• Police
• Public Health
• Transportation Division of the Department of Public Works
• Sanitation Division of the Department of Public Works
• Economic Development and Long Term Planning Division of the Planning Department

Voting members of the Committee shall consist of three residents or business owners or nonprofit organization representatives from each neighborhood where a storefront retail cannabis license has been issued, as well as a Select Board Member. In the event that more than two or more storefront retail cannabis licenses are issued to locations within the same neighborhood, said neighborhood’s representation on the committee shall remain three individuals each exercising one vote. Voting members of the committee shall serve three-year staggered terms, with one representative of each impacted neighborhood’s term expiring each year on a three-year cycle. Any vacancy arising on the committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the unexpired term.

The Select Board Member shall serve as the committee’s chair.

The appointed study committee shall submit its initial written findings and recommendations to the Select Board no later than May 15, 2020. Thereafter, the committee shall annually submit a written report detailing its discussions and activities to be included in the Town’s Annual Report. The committee shall also appear before the Select Board at least once per annum to update and advise the Select Board about matters consistent with its charge.

This committee does not have the power to grant or deny license applications, as that power is vested in those Town officials detailed in Article 5.7