Wiscasset ordinance review committee members and others took seconds Monday night to agree Routes 1 and 27 are where the town should allow marijuana businesses, and then much of the Zoom meeting to try to see where the businesses could fit on those routes.

Working from a draft ordinance that would bar the businesses within 2,000 feet of a property line of a school, childcare or church, members found Wiscasset has so many churches, a buffer of nearly half a mile would rule out some stretches. “That’s a pretty substantial distance,” member Allen Cohen said.

On Route 1, Bible Baptist Church is 1.7 miles from Freedom Fellowship, “so that’s more than enough (room),” and Bible Baptist is 1.8 miles from the town office, Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield, the board’s liaison to the ORC, said. Committee members mulled cutting the proposed buffer, possibly in half. It could be the difference between workable and unworkable, Cohen said.

“In general, if we keep with the 2,000 (feet), we’re knocking out most of town,” Whitfield observed.

Chair Karl Olson will map out the ranges, to help the panel decide what to propose. And the committee plans to invite Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus and Planner Bob Faunce to a March meeting to speak about that town’s marijuana rules and answer committee questions. Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission’s Emily Rabbe said the two could explain how Damariscotta determined fees, the number of licenses to allow for each business type, and more.

Wiscasset townspeople have been pretty clear they do not want marijuana businesses downtown and in historic areas, Olson said.

Cohen suggested also avoiding residential neighborhoods. “So we kind of have to have it where the businesses of the town are primarily located, other than home occupation.”

Rabbe added, making a marijuana ordinance will likely also mean updating the land use ordinance.

Also Monday night, Whitfield said at Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting, when the board is set to take up the town property use policy the ORC drafted at the board’s request, she plans to propose changing it to not have Wiscasset Community Center rentals need selectmen’s approval. Unlike for other sites, the board does not approve WCC use, the department does, Whitfield explained. There would be too many requests for selectmen to field, she added.

Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud’s proposal to allow alcohol at events at WCC with licensed vendors helped lead selectmen to seek a policy.