NORTH HAVEN — If you are looking to buy medical or recreational cannabis in North Haven. You’ll have to keep looking — perhaps in Hamden, Wallingford or New Haven.
The one application for an adult-use cannabis dispensary to come before the Planning and Zoning Commission was denied last week on the basis that it would be too close to a school — although there wasn’t total agreement that the Paul Mitchell cosmetology school in North Haven actually is a school under the town’s zoning regulations.
Since Fine Fettle filed its application in May to put a dispensary at 104 Washington Ave., the PZC voted in September to prohibit cannabis establishments in North Haven.
The PZC denied Fine Fettle’s application for a special permit Monday night after a public hearing that spanned two meetings, despite one pro-dispensary resident submitting a petition in favor of the application signed by about 105 people.
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The fact that Paul Mitchell is right across the street was the major stated reason for the denial.
“It’s clearly, in my view, the school is a school,” said PZC Chairman Vern Carlson. “It’s too close to the school.” Several other PZC members agreed.
Fine Fettle owner Ben Zachs said, “We’re bummed because we think that North Haven would be a great location. … We’re very intentional about where we put locations. We don’t agree that this should have been denied and this delineation of a school.”
“So, we’ll assess potential next steps,” said Zachs, who didn’t rule out the possibility of a court appeal.
“I think we are clearly still fighting a stigma game,” Zachs said. “No matter how well we operate or what … we go through … we still fight stigma.”
Fine Fettle has nine dispensaries either open or in the works in Connecticut, Zachs said, with the nearest to North Haven located on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, 31 miles away. Others are in Bristol, Manchester, Old Saybrook, Norwalk, Stamford and Willimantic, with one under construction in Waterbury and and construction about to begin in West Hartford.
The company also has a cultivation facility under construction in Bloomfield.
At issue in the North Haven hearing was whether Paul Mitchell, which is within 100 feet of the proposed Fine Fettle location, constituted a school under the town’s zoning regulations.
Fine Fettle attorney Amy Souchuns of Hurwitz Sagarin Slossberg & Knuff in Milford disputed that characterization.
“Our position … is that this was approved as a vocational school,” she told the Commission. “It is classified separately from your other schools in town. It is a vocational school, not a college. It is not a K-12 school.”
“We think that under your regulations … a vocational school is not the kind of school that was inside the zone of interest,” Souchuns said.
Before the vote, residents argued both for and against the application.
Roz Gambardella of Hartford Turnpike said she is a medical marijuana user who would travel to the RISE dispensary in Branford to fill her orders until she was unable to get to the dispensary after a car accident last year.
“I fully support the idea of having a medicinal dispensary in this area,” Gambardella said. “It’s just something that I would like this Commission to consider. I think that it would be good for North Haven.”
Sachi Patel of Revere Road agreed and submitted a petition bearing the signatures of 105 people who also favored the dispensary opening in North Haven.
She said her brother, Vishal Patel, who suffers from epileptic seizures as a complication of premature birth, takes cannabis to treat his epilepsy.
“We’ve been able to give him back his quality of life with the use of cannabis,” Sachi Patel said.
“We’ve been able to give him back his quality of life with the use of cannabis,” Sachi Patel said.
“We’re in full support of Fine Fettle,” she said.
But Tom White of Summer Lane gave commission members several examples of people across the nation who have gotten sick after eating cannabis edibles.
Lana Claire Ives, who gave addresses on Mansfield Road and Ridge Road,” told the PZC, “There’s really not a need for something like this. This is a special application. Throughout Hamden and surrounding communities, there are places to buy marijuana if one so chooses. There is no need to have dispensaries in the town of North Haven.”
Marijuana “is a gateway drug,” Ives said. “I’m sorry for the people who have medical problems, but there are other places … We don’t really need that in the town of North Haven.”
Marilyn Calderon of Ridge Road said she feels bad for people who need cannabis to ease their suffering, but “there’s plenty of nearby places and spaces to actually purchase the items. Open up those dispensaries elsewhere, but not in our hometown.”
Resident Alix Johnson, who was in favor of the application, said, “This town has been traditionally very business friendly. The fact that we are all of a sudden restricting what businesses are allowed and not allowed in this town can set a very dangerous precedent,” he said.
“Having this here … would be a great service to this town and to the people who are in this town,” Johnson said.
H/T: www.nhregister.com
