207 Edibles owner calls foul as Lisbon councilors table marijuana license

LISBON — Lorelei Hillaker must wait another two weeks for the Town Council to consider her marijuana license for 207 Edibles, after councilors tabled a decision Tuesday.

In the meantime, her business is closed.

The issue stems from missing permits and repairs needed in the building, including missing plumbing, sign and occupancy permits, along with violations such as broken ceiling tiles, exit setbacks that exceed the code, and others.

The town is denying Hillaker’s marijuana license over the issues but has continued to allow Lisbon Cannabis, whose license expires this spring, to operate in the building.

After her marijuana license lapsed last October, Hillaker filed relicensing paperwork later that month. That was days after councilors held a public hearing to consider suspending Jason Smith’s marijuana license for Lisbon Cannabis because there were no public hearing in May 2024 when his license was renewed, which is legally required.

When she filed the paperwork to be relicensed, the code enforcement officer found several violations in the building and told her she needed to complete those repairs before her license could be issued.

Hillaker said she feels the town is favoring Smith and questions why councilors did not suspend his license in October when the building violations existed.

Smith’s attorney, Jonathan Berry, said that claim is not consistent with the facts.

Looking at license application materials for 207 Edibles and Lisbon Cannabis going back to 2020, the code enforcement officer’s inspection report is missing in each year’s reports but there is paperwork in the application materials that alludes to an inspection being done at some point and the property passing inspection in 2020 and subsequent years.

It is unclear in the license application materials if code enforcement was conducting yearly inspections on either business before Hillaker’s relicensing application last October.

The town has taken steps to improve its practices over the past year, Town Manager Glenn Michalowski said. The town has drafted new forms and intends to propose amendments to the medical marijuana licensing ordinance to the Town Council.

“Some licensees and applicants have alleged that they are being treated differently now; the reality is that all applications are processed and considered according to the ordinance as written,” he said.

During the Oct. 15, 2023, public hearing to consider suspending Smith’s marijuana license, councilors unanimously decided not to suspend it because it would have hurt Smith but not harmed Hillaker’s business, and also feeling like Hillaker’s legal claims needed to be decided by a judge and not the council.

Hillaker has been in a legal dispute with Smith regarding Riverbend, their limited liability company that owns the building at 5 Canal St. She claims Smith has iced her out of the business and has refused to share bills and other building documents with her despite her 50% ownership.

Smith’s attorney said that is not the case. He said she tried to have his license rescinded and brought their personal dispute into the public, in the process placing both herself and Smith’s businesses under a microscope. He claimed they have been trying to work with Hillaker and her attorney to resolve the dispute.

He argued that her waiting to apply for her marijuana license after it expired has nothing to do with Smith.

But Hillaker argues that their business agreement for 5 Canal St. requires that they give permission to each other to operate their businesses out of the building.

Smith argued during his public hearing last October that they don’t have to get permission from each other to operate out of the building – an omission Hillaker said she was waiting to hear.

She had been waiting to renew her license because of the permission issue, she said. When Smith publicly stated that they didn’t need permission from each other to operate and councilors accepted that during the October public hearing, she decided to pursue the license renewal without his permission to use the building, she said.

After Smith’s October public hearing the town refused to approve her license until she completed the necessary work on the building outlined in a Jan. 13 Notice of Violation to Riverbend, some of it in shared spaces both businesses use or maintain, she said.

She has completed much of the work but she is disputing some of the code enforcement officer’s assertions in another Notice of Violation issued Monday, she said. The violations were sent to Riverbend LLC and not attached directly to 207 Edibles because the building is owned by Riverbend.

Hillaker’s attorney argued Tuesday that the missing permits had been known to the Codes and Planning Department and council going back several years but it had never been a barrier to Hillaker and Smith’s business licenses previously. He argued that 207 Edibles meets the town standards for a marijuana license.

Hillaker said she feels like she is being retaliated against for challenging Smith and asserting her 50% ownership rights, which requires him to get permission from her for using the building, also required for the town licensing process.

At the meeting Tuesday, her attorney asked councilors to at least apply the code uniformly to both her and Smith.

Councilor Norm Albert supported approving 207 Edibles’ license but agreed to table the issue, instead of the application getting denied by fellow councilors that night.

The issue is expected to taken up again at the next council meeting.