DERBY – Members of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission are considering whether to allow more marijuana shops into the city.
The sale of recreational marijuana became legal in Connecticut on Jan. 10, 2023. The state initially limited the number of cannabis retail stores and micro-cultivation operations that could open in municipalities to 1 per 25,000 residents.
That meant Derby could have one retailer, which commissioners did in January by granting approvals for a marijuana retailer on Pershing Drive, within the building that now houses Italian Pavilion, a restaurant.
The plans reviewed by the city showed Italian Pavilion remaining open, but with the cannabis retail shop taking up most of the building.
Six months later the new marijuana shop still hasn’t opened, but David Salinas, the owner, recently told The Valley Indy he still plans to open in Derby.
Meanwhile, the state relaxed its rules, taking away the requirements regarding how many marijuana businesses could open in a community. A similar facility was approved in Seymour, and there is one operating in Naugatuck.
The new rules prompted the members of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission to talk about whether to allow more marijuana business into the city during a meeting June 25.
Options discussed just leaving the number at one, or dovetailing it to match the number of existing package stores, or to have no limit.
Commissioner David Kopjanski said one retailer is enough.
“Derby has not really been known as a municipality where drugs are welcome. I kind of like that tradition and I like that for myself and for my grandchildren and for my neighbors,” Kopjanski said.
Commissioner Dan Blizman offered a different point of view.
“I know there’s a lot of stigma surrounding the business, but you’re encouraging the legal sale of this, instead of the illegal sale of this, which sometimes gets convoluted,” he said.
No formal action was taken, but the commission is scheduled to discuss the issue again on Aug. 13.
At that meeting, the commission will talk about whether to set the number of such businesses at two.
“It’s all up for discussion, we’ll see what the members want,” Derby Planning & Zoning Chairman Ted Estwan told the Valley Indy via an email. “The state allowed one (retail store) per 25,000 people. We adopted what the state said, but the state did away with that and left it up to the towns and cities. We could approve 10 and 10 can show up by right.”
Estwan, however, doesn’t want to see Derby overrun with pot shops.
“I don’t want to see a free-for-all in the city of Derby,” Estwan said. “We’re the smallest town by square footage in the state.”
H/T: valley.newhavenindependent.org
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