Oxford selectmen set hearing to change hotel guidelines

OXFORD - Selectmen approved a process they expect will end in Planning Board guidelines for medical marijuana distributorships and bringing hotel and motel standards up-to-date.

The changes were recommended by an ordinance review committee made up of Town Manager Mike Chammings, Police Chief Jon Tibbetts, Fire Chief Scott Hunter, Planning Board Chairman Walter Mosher and Code Enforcement Officer Rodney Smith.  A public hearing before the planning board meeting will be held December 16 at the town office. On January 6,   at the Oxford Elementary School, a special town meeting will be held, to enact the ordinances.

The town manager also noted that the town's standards for hotels and/or motels had the effect of making either type of facility financially unfeasible, because of building height restrictions and the ratio of space for accomodations and available parking.

Even though the only person submitting a proposal to open a medical marijuana facility had been turned down by the state, Chammings recommended that the town continue the process of holding hearings and adopting new or revised ordinances. There will have to be a special town meeting, if the hearings result in changes or additions to the town's ordinances.

"For one thing, you declared a moratorium so you could write an ordinance. You should do it," Chammings told the selectmen.

The town manager added that the ordinances would equip the town properly to deal with more applications, should they be filed in the future.

"Does the town have an ordinance against nude entertainment? What if I want to open a place for that?" asked Peter LaVerdiere, a member of the budget committee.

Both Chammings and Chairman Floyd Thayer responded that there are ordinances governing such an eventuality.

"We put them in place when the "First Amendment" [an adult book and film store] came in," Thayer informed him.

The proposed changes will be posted in various locations and are available in the town office, Chammings said.