THE DAY
Waterford ― The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to ban the sale and production of recreational cannabis in town.
The change in zoning regulations will be effective as of Dec. 14.
If the town’s 12-month moratorium on cannabis sales expired before the commission took any action, cannabis dispensaries and retailers would have been allowed in town as any other retail store would be. The moratorium was set to expire Dec. 17.
Commission Chairman Greg Massad, said during the meeting that cannabis was “appropriate to ban at this time,” instead of the commission acting in “haste” and rushing to approve a regulation before the moratorium expired.
Massad and the commission reasoned that the ban aids the “orderly development of the town.”
The ban defines a cannabis establishment as: a producer, dispensary facility, cultivator, micro-cultivator, retailer, hybrid retailer, food and beverage manufacturer, product manufacturer, product packager, delivery service, or transporter.
The ban reads: “No building or premises shall be used for any Cannabis Establishment in the Town of Waterford, except a Medical Marijuana Dispensary as provided for in Section 13.a.2 of these regulations.”
The commission held a public hearing Tuesday night and no residents addressed the commission in favor nor opposition.
“It’s kind of telling that no one came to speak,” said Commissioner Karen Barnett.
Currently, medical marijuana dispensary facilities are allowed in the Medical Campus Overlay District (MCOD) on Parkway South, where Smillow Cancer Hospital is located, and will remain so under the ban.
Under a state law that legalized the recreational use of marijuana and took effect last year, municipalities have the discretion to allow or prohibit cannabis businesses within their borders, regulate signs and operating hours, and develop specific regulations for such businesses. The law allows one retailer and one retail grower for every 25,000 residents, which means the town can have one grower and one retailer.
Because the ban is the result of a zoning change, the commission can chose to revisit the ban and alter it if necessary.
Residents looking to buy cannabis products will not have to go far, though, as East Lyme and New London have both approved recreational cannabis sales.
H/T: www.theday.com
