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Thank you for your attention to this matter. Last night was ridiculous. Unfortunately, the home at this resident on the corner of Swan and Westbrook St. has been a serious detriment to the quality of our Stroudwater neighborhood. For approximately two years we have witnessed a residential home be turned into a full time marijuana growing and selling BUSINESS. It is a marijuana growing facility with a constant flow of local and out of state customers. We are approaching spring so the construction has begun for their new spring crop. There are people who do not live there walking in and out of their illegally built (never got permit) "shed" which is half the size of their home. There is a sad excuse for a fence which is wobbly and dangerous as their pitbulls can easily plow through it and endanger an innocent person walking by (especially with their dogs - which has happened in the past). The fence is see through and not 6ft. in height, which is "required" according to the laws of being a marijuana grower/caregiver. Basically these people haven't followed the laws/rules of what is required to be a grower/caregiver. They have continued to defy the written guidelines and without penalty. We as citizens understand about the new marijuana laws, however, when these laws are broken, who is actually policing them? With the massive invasion of heroin and other illegal drugs that have taken over our city, it sadly seems that marijuana has fallen to the bottom of the list.
With this being said, my advice is to not ignore this problem. When the voters allowed the legalization of marijuana it opened pandoras box. I don't think that they realized that a "mom and pop" greenhouse and convenient store for pot would show up in their quiet suburban neighborhood. Guess what? It did. - and it DOESN'T BELONG.
We as residents understand and aren't fighting the law that has already been passed, however we are upset and pressing for some action on putting the same rules of law for what is a "business" in a residential neighborhood. This growing home has no "business permit". If I were to open a gift shop in my home I would be required to apply for a business license and be sure the neighborhood was zoned for business. I would be DENIED of course as this is clearly a neighborhood and no place for a convenient store for marijuana. These growers/sellers have NOT followed the guidelines/rules set in place by not having any of the plants visible to the public. The fence they have is inadequate. They have people constantly in and out that do not live there and may or may not have a growing license but are in contact with the growing plants when only the people that have the actual license in that home should have access. The law states that "communal" growing/selling is not allowed. Are these people claiming their income? Paying taxes? Is anyone paying attention to this issue???
The list goes on and on. We have asked for attention to this matter for well over a year or two. We as taxpayers and citizens of Portland demand that someone do something to help us - especially as we approach their busy selling season. We want our neighborhood back without having a drug dealing convenient store in it. Make them relocate their business to a business zoned area. Put it in an industrial park where it belongs - not where children are riding their bikes and families walking their dogs. Afterall, it is a "neighborhood" which is supposed to have a decent quality of life. Its sad actually that after all my life living in this city it has come to this. We hope as a community we finally receive some enforcement to this matter. We truly would appreciate it. Thank you- on behalf of the Stroudwater community.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We as a community have had inspections and the legal division of the city already working on this last year, however it was a dead end. - why? who knows but they basically ended up giving them a "pass" and let it go regarding the illegally built shed. They initially told them to stop construction- the resident ignored their request and the shed was built in full. Cable and lighting installed- electrical which was most likely never inspected either since the actual building was not approved.
Call me crazy but I don't get it? This is blatantly WRONG. Like I said before the city has failed this neighborhood and stood behind a law breaking resident running a marijuana growing facility and convenient store out of their home.
Please post my comments from my previous post. This issued must be discussed and letting other taxpayers read the comments and state their concerns as well. Thank you for your prompt attention- it is greatly appreciated.

I completely agree, there has to be someone to help our street get back to a family neighborhood. With it being a dead end street their customers are turning around in all of our driveways and its not just 1-2 a day they have people coming in and out all summer. There are children and dogs in the neighborhood and with this flow of traffic its unsafe.

Right now they are preparing the planting beds and getting ready for grow season. So the customer base is slow. Come June that house will be hopping. Non stop selling and people coming and going. Come by on a Friday and sit there from noon on. You will see a constant flow of buyers from all over - Maine, NH, MA, even seen Virginia, NY, PA... all kinds of plates. At times there will be up to 12-18 cars or more parked on the grass and on the sides of the streets. Its all the customers coming to get their marijuana. Since it's on a corner, when you drive into Swan Street it is a massive hazzard. I'm shocked no one has been hit yet. I've seen children standing in the grow house/shed with the door wide open and the shed full of marijuana plants. The grow house/illegally built shed is accessible to the street. The doors are street side so that anyone with a key can access it without having to go into the home owners yard. Hmmmmm.. why??? That is a bit odd. I thought only the actual home owners/licensed weed sellers could be in contact with the plants. Then again- nothing at this residence has followed the guidelines.
This "business" is bringing a negative, bad element to what was once a quaint and quiet family neighborhood.
We have been asking for help for almost 2 years and sadly our voices have been unnoticed.

Issue 4368577 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Your request has been resolved by Inspections, and closed. Chuck Fagone, Code Enforcement Officer, Sarah Colton, Community Services, Officer Argitis from PPD and a representative from Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) visited the property this morning. A check was conducted regarding the medicinal marijuana and at this time there is no longer a grow operation on site. During the inspection, it was found that the home owner was building a structure (gazebo) without a permit. A stop work order was issued and the owner has 5 business days to submit plans to the city for a permit. No other violations were found.Thank you for partnering with us to keep The City of Portland a great place to live and work.

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