The former The Barn at 1110 East Main Street is being proposed as the site for another cannibis dispensary in Stamford, Conn. on Friday, August 11, 2023.
STAMFORD — Less than two months after Zoning Board members called for a moratorium on new cannabis dispensaries in the city, another one could be headed their way.
Nautilus Botanicals, a Bridgeport-based company, has filed paperwork to operate a hybrid cannabis dispensary in a vacant retail building on the East Side. The site, at 1110 East Main St. near the neighborhood’s southbound Interstate 95 exit, would be Stamford’s third hybrid retailer. Another dispensary, Curaleaf Stamford, is about one mile west of the property up East Main Street.
The application is scheduled to be discussed by the Planning Board at its Tuesday meeting.
Curaleaf and Fine Fettle — on Research Drive between the Springdale and Glenbrook Metro-North train stations — were approved relatively easily by local land use boards over the past year. But cannabis, legal in Connecticut since 2021, became a sudden political rod in Stamford earlier this year when another company, Sweetspot, applied to open a dispensary on High Ridge Road in Bulls Head.
The Zoning Board overwhelmingly denied Sweetspot’s application in June, with multiple members pushing for a moratorium. But as of last month, when the Board convened to pass new rules regulating dispensaries and smoke shops, no action on a moratorium had been taken yet.
“There is currently no moratorium and I am not aware of any efforts to impose one,” Zoning Board Chair David Stein said Friday.
The Nautilus application appears to satisfy the new regulations, being more than 3,000 feet from the other two dispensaries and more than 1,000 feet from the nearest public and private schools. The building is in a C-N zone, defined as a “Neighborhood Business District.” Nautilus would not need a zone change or master plan amendment to set up shop — just a special permit from the city.
Nautilus would be an equity joint venture. Equity joint ventures are cannabis businesses that are co-owned by established companies and individuals from areas disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of marijuana during the war on drugs.
The company’s CEO, Luis Vega, has worked as a hemp farmer since Connecticut legalized the plant in 2019, according to the application. Vega, who studied at the University of New Haven, was the lone Latino farmer to receive a license from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s hemp pilot program.
Vega runs a hemp business, Wepa! Farms. The dispensary application lists Nautilus’ address in North Haven, but state business records show the LLC is also registered in Bridgeport.
For Nautilus, Vega partnered with Merida Capital, a cannabis industry private equity firm. The new company has already secured appropriate licenses from the state, according to the application.
Wepa! Farms did not respond to an immediate request for comment through its website Friday. Lisa Feinberg, the land use attorney representing Nautilus, declined a request to comment on the application.
The proposed site is a red and white, two-story building constructed in 1965. Most recently, it was a drive-through grocery store called The Barn.
According to the application, most of the changes to the building would be interior, such as adding a secure check-in area and point-of-sale stations. There would not be any cannabis products on the retail floor, a requirement for Connecticut dispensaries.
Outside, Nautilus would seal off the existing drive-through window and add security cameras, tinted windows and either bollards or planters in front of the building to further secure the entrance.
