Town Meeting OKs Moratorium on Pot Shops, Bylaw Changes for Taxicabs

Town Meeting members voted unanimously to adopt a year-long moratorium on medical marijuana facilities in Danvers without any discussion on the matter Monday night other than a minor tweak in wording, and a number of other significant items for the town were approved in like fashion.

One topic that did generate some lengthy discussion was over proposed changes to a bylaw regulating taxicabs in town.

Bill Bates wondered why there were such lengthy regulations governing taxi licenses and permits -- he felt it might therefore discourage companies from coming to Danvers.

Selectman Bill Clark responded that the issue before Town Meeting was just to try and remove some hardships local taxi companies found with the bylaw, which was enacted several years ago. He said the board realized several months ago that there were no properly licensed outfits in town and they began to address that.

Clark added that if the changes did pass Town Meeting, he understood there would be another 20 or so licenses being sought in town by local companies.

Newly elected Precinct 3 Town Meeting member Alex Swift even made his first successful amendment on the issue.

Swift, and later his father lent his support to the effort, noted that allowing taxi drivers to refuse service to customers who were "drunk or disorderly" could defeat the purpose of them taking a cab in the first place.

"Drunk" was then stricken from the clause to just read "disorderly."

The elder Swift -- who operates a livery service -- did have a question on why the bylaw instructs drivers to report suspicious behavior to the police.

Chief Neil Ouellette said that clause was inserted specifically with drug activity in mind -- if cab drivers observed suspicious passengers going to certain locations for possible drug deals.

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After local veterans took at the stage in the Danvers High School auditorium to lead the meeting body in the Pledge of Allegiance, the Danvers High Chorus performed three songs -- a fitting start to the evening, which was back in the high school for the first time since 2006.