A special meeting of the Princeton Council on March 29 was advertised as “a listening session,” and there was plenty to listen to as many of the more than 300 participants in the Zoom session weighed in on the question of whether or not Council should allow zoning for a cannabis dispensary in town.
The meeting lasted for four hours, with the last three hours devoted to public comment, and when it finally ended at about 11 p.m. there were still 35 people with their virtual hands raised waiting to speak. In addition to the speakers at the meeting, 40-50 emails were sent to Council on the subject.
“Amazing meeting,” said Councilman David Cohen. “Attendance was about twice as large as at any meeting since I’ve been on Council. It’s great that the community is so engaged.”
He continued, “I was impressed at how many unique takes there were on the question, 50-60 public comments. That’s a testament to how complex the issue is. There are so many different ways to think about it.”
Princeton Mayor Mark Freda agreed. “I believe all of the elected officials were happy to see the level of community engagement during the meeting,” he wrote in an email. “At one point we had 345 people taking part in the Zoom meeting, and on top of that many, many people have emailed all of us with opinions, information on different studies, etc.”