WILTON — With a moratorium on cannabis establishments in town coming to an end, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to permanently ban the establishments in Wilton.
The decision at the commission’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 23, came as a two-year moratorium was due to expire Oct. 29, according to Michael Wrinn, the town’s town planner and planning and land use management director. It was approved in a vote of 5-3.
While the commission permanently banned cannabis businesses, Wrinn said the decision could be reversed in the future.
“We say that it’s just permanent,” he said. “The words are a little strong in the sense that essentially all our reg(ulation)s are permanent until we change them.”
The vote for a ban removed the deadline looming over the commission, Wrinn said.
“Let’s just permanently ban it to give us a chance to do what we need to do,” he said of the decision.
The commission can now watch how the cannabis market unfolds in surrounding municipalities, Wrinn said. Currently, Norwalk, Danbury and Stamford allow recreational cannabis establishments within their city limits.
Conversely, New Canaan, Weston, Newtown, Greenwich and now Wilton prohibit cannabis establishments, according to a PZC document. The same document states that Westport allows the sale of only medical cannabis and Ridgefield is in a moratorium on regulations.
The wait-and-see approach will supply the town with information on cannabis retailers, Wrinn said.
“How do they operate when they do open up? What kind of issues, if any, do they have?” he said.
The legal sale of recreational cannabis began in the Connecticut on Jan. 10 at licensed retailers. There are different kinds of cannabis licenses in the state of Connecticut: cultivator, delivery, manufacturer, packager, transporters and retailers.
If the Wilton Planning and Zoning Commission were to consider allowing cannabis establishments in the town, it would consider all different kinds of licensed establishments, Wrinn said.
“If we want to look at this in the spring?” he said. “Well, then we’re going to break down each one of these uses that are here and describe each one, what it entails, what it allows, what you can and can’t do.”
Wrinn mentioned that Norwalk has three incoming cannabis dispensaries. Two of those dispensaries, owned by Fine Fettle and Shangri-La, are slated to open close to the new year. For Wilton, it’s too soon to understand how the cannabis market works, he said.
But a permanent ban will not discourage potential cannabis establishments from trying to come to Wilton, Wrinn said.
“I think if they find that Wilton meets their criteria, I don’t see them as being shy and walking away,” Wrinn said.
In public comments submitted to the commission, Wilton residents expressed mixed opinions about allowing cannabis establishments in town.
“As a Wilton resident, I am not supportive of a permanent ban on cannabis retail stores,” Julie Corbett said in an email to Wrinn. “I am supportive of extending the current temporary ban to a future date when more information is available about local impacts.”
Her request for a continuance of the moratorium was not met — although her desire for “more information” is met in the wait-and-see approach Wrinn described.
Town resident Madeleine Wilken said public sentiments “of the town turning into some kind of (skid row)” are “borrowed right from ‘Reefer Madness’.”
“I find it patronizing to not let the residents decide for ourselves in a referendum on the matter of cannabis dispensaries,” Wilken said in an email to Wrinn.
Town resident Kevin Cleary said that cannabis in Wilton “will show the wrong message” to youth.
“Many of the surrounding towns around us have already opposed the sale of cannabis within their towns, and we should follow their lead,” Cleary said.
Although the commission could look to develop regulations for some cannabis establishments, it does not have an eye on retail cannabis shops, Wrinn said.
H/T: middletownpress.com
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