Dunstable Advisory Committee Endorses Full Warrant, Schedules Public Hearing for April 30

DUNSTABLE -- April 15, 2026, Dunstable's Advisory Committee backed all 26 town meeting warrant articles at its April 15 meeting, including measures to allow marijuana retail sales by special permit in all three business districts and establish a 3 percent local excise tax on those sales. The committee covered a $19,099 increase in the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District assessment by drawing from free cash, leaving a post-appropriation balance of $435,754 after planned transfers of $100,000 from the PFAS settlement fund and $50,000 from free cash to the general stabilization fund and a parallel $51,000 to the capital improvements program stabilization fund. Capital articles approved include $75,000 for a replacement police cruiser and $15,000 for fire department vehicle extrication equipment. A $46,183 snow and ice deficit article was deferred pending a determination of whether year-end interdepartmental transfers can absorb the shortfall without a free cash draw. The committee also endorsed rezoning 174 Pleasant Street from residential to B1 retail business, adding cold storage warehouses to the B3 district's allowed uses, craft breweries and distilleries to the B2 district, and establishing a 0.75 percent local meals tax effective July 1. A public hearing on the full warrant is set for April 30 at 6:30 p.m., ahead of the May 11 town meeting.