Pubdate: Sun, 10 Nov 2013
Source: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Copyright: 2013sMediaNews Group, Inc
Contact: http://www.ctpost.com/feedback/
Website: http://www.ctpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/574
Authors: Ken Dixon and Denis J. O'Malley

TOWNS CONSIDER THEIR OWN MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS

It hasn't been easy for those who want to get into the business of 
growing or selling marijuana in Connecticut.

More than a dozen municipalities throughout the state are hanging out 
"not welcome" signs, using the only tools at their disposal -- land 
use and zoning laws -- to keep the industry from setting up shop 
within their borders.

Still other communities are drafting local ordinances to regulate how 
the businesses will be run. And at least one town has considered 
applications from a couple of would-be purveyors, only to quickly 
turn them down.

With less than two weeks before the deadline for prospective medical 
marijuana growers and sellers to file their applications with state 
officials, only a handful of facilities have won the necessary local 
zoning approvals.

"I feel like I'm out in the trenches right now, tiptoeing through 
land mines in a couple of different areas," said Diane Whitney, a 
land-use lawyer who has represented marijuana businesses. "This is a 
very tight regime they (the state) have put in place, which gives us 
great comfort and is a great help in talking with municipalities 
about allowing these facilities in their community. But I have to say 
that the message has not gotten through to all of them."

The business owners say that local fears are unfounded and that 
Connecticut's medical marijuana rules will provide secure, reliable 
locations to grow and sell a variety of strains of cannabis under the 
supervision of licensed pharmacists. They point out what often gets 
lost in the tedious zoning debates -- there are people who are 
suffering and need the drug to ease their pain, which is why the 
state adopted the law in 2012.

Loud voices

In Fairfield, neighbors came out in force to oppose two proposals for 
dispensaries on the Post Road, the town's busy commercial artery. 
Residents expressed outrage over increased crime and fear of 
decreased property values if the marijuana business was allowed in. 
The town's Planning and Zoning Commission turned both proposals down.

Shelton was the first community in the state to approve a moratorium, 
which lasts until June.

Richard Schultz, administrator for the city's Planning and Zoning 
Commission, said he attended a 2012 workshop held by the state 
chapter of the American Planning Association that alerted 
professionals to the imminent medical-marijuana law.

"We had meetings early on," Schultz said, adding that a public 
hearing is set for next April that could lead to an extension of the freeze.

Others quickly followed suit. From New Canaan and Westport, to 
Shelton and Ansonia, to Ridgefield, Trumbull, West Hartford and 
Madison, municipalities have put on the brakes, adopting moratoriums 
that allow them time -- generally, a year -- to delay making any 
decision on medical cannabis-related facilities.

Steve Kleppin, New Canaan town planner and senior enforcement 
officer, said the town received "a couple" of inquiries about 
possible medical cannabis dispensaries.

"That prompted discussions about what would be appropriate and 
whether they would like to see it in town or not," Kleppin said last 
week. "So the first step was to enact a one-year moratorium to take a 
little time to study the issue."

To delay or deny

But Erik Williams, whose company won local approval for a grow 
operation in a manufacturing building in New Britain, questions the 
real goal of the moratoriums.

"I think that a lot of the moratoriums that are being put in place 
now are misguided in that they are not moratoriums as much as they 
are shutting out their communities from participating in this program 
in the first round," said Williams, who is also director of the state 
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws. "The Department of Consumer Protection and the Legislature did 
all of the heavy lifting, with all the rules and regulations, making 
this a very compliant business that cities and towns should welcome."

The moratorium is not a ruse, Ridgefield officials said. Last month, 
Ridgefield became the first town in the Danbury area to impose a 
year-long moratorium, after informal inquiries were floated to town 
officials over the summer.

The town will use the moratorium to consider which zoning 
designations will encompass the businesses that, until now, had been 
illegal enterprises, Town Planner Betty Brosius said. The commission 
is considering treating dispensaries as retail storefronts and 
growing facilities as light-manufacturing, and when such issues are 
resolved the moratorium will be lifted -- even before the year is up.

Brookfield has taken a step in the same direction, with its zoning 
commission scheduling a public hearing on Nov. 14 for residents to 
speak on whether the town should institute a moratorium.

A new tax base

New Milford is taking a different approach. Rather than prolong the 
process with a moratorium, the town's Zoning Commission decided to 
craft its own regulations, which will be presented at its Dec. 10 meeting.

Bill Taylor, chairman of the commission, said the body wanted to take 
a "proactive" approach to what could be an addition to the town's 
grand list of taxable property.

"The price of a license from the state is very high," he said. "So if 
you have somebody willing to invest that kind of money ... it creates 
an ability to raise your tax base very quickly."

The state requires a $25,000 application fee, a $75,000 license fee 
and a $2 million escrow account for those who want to get into the 
business. Rather than institute a moratorium, Taylor said the zoning 
panel decided to draft regulations so residents could take part in a 
debate on their merits once they are presented.

"This is something we want to get ahead of the curve," Taylor said. 
"You can either be run over by change or you can embrace it and go 
with it, and I prefer to embrace it and go with it because change is 
inevitable."

Newtown First Selectwoman Pat Llodra said she is not sure her town 
wants to allow the new industry.

"I think right now, certainly, I don't know that we have any interest 
at all in allowing any medical marijuana facility within our 
community," she said.

Newtown does not have to institute a moratorium. It has a "permissive 
code" that only allows what is expressly written into the books. 
Norwalk has a similar zoning law and any purveyors of pot would have 
to request a public hearing and seek a change in the city's land-use 
restrictions.

Officials in Danbury and Bethel have discussed the idea of a 
moratorium but taken no action so far.

Towns have the right to institute an outright ban if they choose, 
said Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, who opposed medical marijuana 
in the Senate, but recently approved the program as a member of the 
Regulation Review Committee of the Legislature.

"If you compare it to alcohol, municipalities do have the authority 
to regulate alcohol," Doyle said, pointing out the example of 
Bridgewater, which bans package stores. "I'm certain that it can be 
challenged, but if the towns can regulate alcohol use within their 
boundaries, it's possible they can regulate marijuana use."

Still, with the looming Friday deadline to hand-deliver their 
lengthy, detailed proposals to the state Department of Consumer 
Protection, cannabis professionals are confident that there will be 
enough competition for the nascent industry. Looking for a match

And while some proposals have drawn close public scrutiny, others are 
in the background. In fact, some cannabis business owners declined to 
talk about their full plans with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers, 
including the planned locations of dispensaries, until after the 
state deadline.

David Lipton won approval for a cannabis-growing facility in an empty 
manufacturing building in West Haven. But his was one of the 
dispensary plans for Fairfield that galvanized neighbors and got shot down.

"I would say for someone looking to find a location, it's best that 
one is not next to a neighborhood or bus stops, because you will face 
a lot of opposition," Lipton said. "People do have a right to protect 
their neighborhood. If you want to increase your chances for 
approval, it's best to find an area without neighborhood involvement. 
Down the road that will change, but at the outset of the program, you 
have to be careful."

With the mid-November application deadline approaching, Lipton 
declined to discuss other locations he has in mind for a dispensary.

Whitney, the lawyer who specializes in zoning issues, said during a 
recent forum on medical cannabis at the University of Connecticut Law 
School that despite the strict regulations, the fear of 
California-style marijuana dispensaries and associated social 
problems of theft and violent crime can spread through a community 
like wildfire. The way towns and cities address proposals is crucial.

"How they decide to deal with these facilities is going to color the 
public perception of them," said Whitney, who represented Lipton in 
West Haven and Fairfield. "There is a great deal of fear out there 
among the municipalities. Much more fear than I expected."

Even as municipalities are grappling with medical marijuana, the idea 
of full legalization is already being debated. On Wednesday, about 
100 people attended a forum on legalization at Western Connecticut 
State University, which featured a debate between Williams and 
Jeffrey Reynolds, executive director of the Long Island Council on 
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

William M. Rubenstein, the state Consumer Protection commissioner, 
recently held a workshop at the Capitol for local planners and zoning 
officials, but it didn't help in his own hometown of West Hartford, 
which adopted a moratorium of its own last month.

"We've been out there trying to educate municipal officials as well 
as the public at large," Rubenstein said. "The statutes take into 
account community interests in a variety of ways. We continue to get 
that message out. We are just trying to make sure we're explaining 
the program clearly, so a lot of the fears, from a lack of knowledge, 
evaporate."

State regulations among strictest

State regulations include distance requirements between 
marijuana-related businesses and schools and churches, and call for 
security for both growing and dispensing operations. Officials say 
they are among the strictest in the nation.

After proposals are accepted and researched, licenses for up to three 
growers and five dispensers will be awarded, and by next spring or 
summer for the first Connecticut-grown cannabis to reach dispensaries 
for patients who comply with the 11 eligible ailments.

Joe Palmieri, a Bridgeport farmer and businessman, said the nature of 
the new industry means local officials will take close scrutiny of proposals.

"I am the backer, the landlord, the business owner and the operator," 
Palmieri said last week. "Down the road, I may open a dispensary. 
Once the grow operation is up to my standards, I can branch off to a 
dispensary."

The owner of an environmental cleanup company and an Easton farm, 
Palmieri plans to grow medical marijuana in self-contained "grow 
pods" of his own design in a West End building recently approved by 
city officials.

"If you can't answer the questions and concerns, you should not be 
running a business in that area," Palmieri said.
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