PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle City Council held a number of votes and hearings on public safety issues and took new actions on the town’s growing marijuana industry during its meeting Wednesday.
The council unanimously approved a license for a new marijuana cultivation business — Northern Euphoria — which will be located at 11 Davis St. The site already contains the Here We Grow gardening store, though they will be separate businesses, said owner Chad Junkins.
Junkins sought to make clear that the business would not be a medical marijuana dispensary. He seemed to reference a post on Tuesday in the Concerned Citizens of Presque Isle community Facebook group that criticized the potential approval of a new medical marijuana store in the Star City.
Junkins said his main goal for the facility is to provide cannabis for the new medical marijuana dispensaries popping up in town. The council has approved three so far this year — Northern Maine Flower, Star City Wellness and Full Bloom Cannabis. All of them have opened, with Star City Wellness and Full Bloom Cannabis both opening on Tuesday.
“I’d like to provide for them here instead of them having to go downstate,” Junkins said. “I want to keep the money here in Presque Isle.”
The council also scheduled a public hearing in the next council meeting in October on changes to the recreational marijuana ordinance approved in January.
Having heard feedback from businesses working with the ordinance — and with Maine’s announcement that it will begin approving recreational sales licenses on Sept. 8 — City Manager Martin Puckett said it was time for the council to make the ordinance more “administrator-friendly” and put it in line with new state regulations.
But most of the meeting was reserved for public safety issues, especially on traffic concerns. Puckett said there had been a growing number of complaints to the city and police about residents speeding, especially on Academy Street, State Street, Chapman Road and Washburn Road.
Presque Isle City Councilor Doug Cyr during a city council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 2. (David Marino Jr.)
Puckett said police had increased patrols in areas where motorists are known to speed. He said public works had also routinely removed brush and trees obstructing signage.
Councilor Jeffrey Willette said flagrant violations of speed limits around town were the result of residents not realizing the consequences of their actions.
“We’re not just here to be Big Brother,” Willette said, referencing a symbol of oppressive government in George Orwell’s novel “1984”. “We’re here to remind citizens and motorists that we have these laws, and they are here for a reason.”
Lyndsey Maynard testified that she had witnessed a car nearly hit a small child last Saturday on Cedar Street. She recommended that a speed tracker be moved to the location to enforce the 25 mph speed limit — something Council Chairperson Kevin Freeman said the city would pursue along with other measures in consultation with the Maine Department of Transportation.
Presque Isle City Councilor Jeffery Willette examines photos of properties owned by Fernand Martin during a city council meeting on Wednesday, Sep. 2. (David Marino Jr.)
Additionally, the council held a dangerous building hearing on four properties owned by Fernand Martin, the third time Martin has come before the council for such a hearing this year. In its July meeting, the council had judged two of Martin’s properties to be dangerous, creating a timetable under which they may be demolished if the owner takes no action to fix them.
Presque Isle Code Enforcement Officer George Howe described the properties at 23 Turner St., 25 Turner St., 14 Park St. and 227 State St. as being in a state of disrepair, with leaky roofs, substantial rot, mold and ineffective repair work. He said two unoccupied properties on Turner Street featured several rodents as well as a house cat inside.
Howe said he spent about 15 hours a month dealing with Martin’s properties, the most he spends for any one landlord in the city. He noted that Fernand Martin owns several more properties in the city than many landlords he deals with.
Fernand and his son Eric Martin said they had taken steps to repair each of the four properties — an argument they have presented at previous dangerous building hearings. Eric Martin denied the presence of rodents in the Turner Street buildings, saying he had not seen any when he went there a few weeks ago.
The council unanimously voted to designate the four properties as dangerous, triggering a 30-day timetable for Fernand Martin to “abate all conditions” creating a nuisance or risk having the buildings demolished by the city.
The same was done for a property on 74 Exchange St. owned by Walter Gogan, who did not appear at the session.
The next City Council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Oct. 7at Presque Isle City Hall. Along with that concerning a marijuana ordinance, the council scheduled a public hearing concerning a downtown redevelopment plan.
