DANBURY – The city’s first retail cannabis shop is set for approval by planners on Wednesday, but it will take some time before the sale of recreational marijuana begins in Danbury.
The reason: An application due to be approved for BUD-R to open a retail cannabis shop on the east end would come with a condition that the business builds a sidewalk across the front of the property on busy Federal Road.
“There is no magic date to open because of those conditions that require coordinating with the state,” said Tom Beecher, an attorney representing BUD-R and its plans to convert an empty equipment rental building near the Interstate 84 and Routes 7 and 202 overpasses into the city’s first retail pot shop.
That means that when retail cannabis sales for recreational adult use become legal across Connecticut on Tuesday, Danbury area residents will have to travel to another town such as Stamford or New Haven, or to a nearby out-of-state location, in order to make a purchase.
“If the state approval wasn’t an issue we could be built and ready to open in four to five months,” said Carl Tirella, co-founder of BUD-R. “We reached out to the state, and we are waiting to hear back.”
Meanwhile, city planners are considering a second application to sell retail cannabis in Danbury, and it will be debated during a public hearing Wednesday. That application is by The Botanist, which already serves as a medical cannabis dispensary on Danbury’s west side and is seeking local approval to operate as a hybrid retailer.
Should the city’s Planning Commission close the public hearing and approve The Botanist’s application to be a medicinal cannabis dispensary and retail pot shop, the race would be on to see which shop would open first in Danbury.
Although The Botanist on Mill Plain Road is already open for medicinal cannabis, BUD-R is further along in the approval process, having revised its plans to simplify the circulation pattern and ensure no one goes looking for thrown-out pot products in the parking lot, after city officials voiced concerns about traffic backups and security.
Members of the city’s Planning Commission closed the public hearing on the BUD-R application in December and indicated their verbal support for the business.
“Once the votes are tallied, hopefully we will have a resolution of approval,” Beecher said.
Danbury allows a limited number of cannabis businesses in select commercial zones under regulations passed in August.
After a year-long moratorium, the city adopted regulations that cap the number of cannabis businesses according to category, allowing for a total of two hybrid retailers or a total of three businesses in the following categories: one medicinal marijuana dispensary, one recreational pot business, and one hybrid retailer. The regulations also allow one micro-cultivator — a farmer whose grow space is between 2,000 and 10,000 square feet in size.
H/T: www.newstimes.com
