Bridgeport firm sues over rejected cannabis dispensary

STAMFORD — Nautilus Botanicals, a Bridgeport-based cannabis company, is suing the Stamford Zoning Board for denying its special permit application to open a dispensary at 1110 East Main St. on the city’s East Side.

It was the Zoning Board’s second time in the past year being sued for rejecting a proposed cannabis retailer. Board members denied Sweetspot on High Ridge Road in July before settling a lawsuit with the company last month, allowing the business to open.

It was also the third time in the span of a month that city officials were sued for ruling against a developer’s requests.

In November, a Dunkin’ franchisee sued the Stamford Zoning Board of Appeals over its decision to pull the city’s approval of a drive-thru at its newest location. And days before Nautilus filed its suit, Monday Properties sued the Zoning Board over its decision to reject a proposal to build more than 500 apartments at 900 Long Ridge Road.

In the Nautilus Botanicals suit, the board’s four regular members made the unanimous decision to deny the permit at its Nov. 27 meeting, citing parking and traffic concerns. Under state statutes, Nautilus had 15 days to appeal the board’s decision to superior court after it was officially published on Nov. 30. They filed the suit on Dec. 15.

The complaint alleges that the Zoning Board made a predetermined decision not supported by the record or applicable law. In particular, they accuse Chief Zoning Enforcement Officer James Lunney of inserting fabricated parking evidence into the record after it had been closed.

Lunney recommended the business have eight parking spaces, while the plan called for six.

“Had (Nautilus) been afforded the opportunity to respond to Mr. Lunney’s evidence, (they) could have revised their plans to confirm to his interpretation, if it were believed to have any merit,” said the complaint written by attorney John A. Shope of Boston-based Foley Hoag LLP.

Nautilus would have been Stamford’s fourth hybrid cannabis dispensary and the second on East Main Street. Curaleaf Stamford has been open since early last year at 814 East Main St.

The lawsuit refutes the Zoning Board’s reasons for rejecting the special permit application.

The site has a one-way traffic flow — in from Standish Road and out onto East Main Street. Board members said the company’s traffic study did not consider the dispensary’s proximity to Route 1 and

Interstate 95. They also claimed the study failed to account for the location’s proximity to the East Side’s I-95 exits, which they posited would increase customers from neighboring New Canaan, Darien and Greenwich, where cannabis dispensaries are prohibited.

There was “no evidence that any of the observations or calculations” in the study by contractor SLR International were inaccurate, Shope wrote. He leaned on a letter from the city’s Transportation, Traffic and Parking Bureau, saying the project “does not appear to have an adverse impact on traffic and parking.”

As for inflow traffic from nearby towns, Shope wrote that the board did not provide evidence that the traffic study’s “usage assumptions” were incorrect, nor how it would differ from previous uses. The site was previously a drive-thru grocery store.

“In short, the board failed to treat the proposed dispensary as it would any other lawful retail use, which it was legally required to do for this purpose,” Shope wrote.

The complaint then turns to the issue of parking. The board’s rejection leaned on Lunney’s recommendation, which he submitted Nov. 8. The board closed its public hearing Oct. 30.

The previous drivethru store required four parking spaces. Nautilus had also planned to lease 10 spaces about 500 feet away to “assuage potential concerns about parking.”

According to Shope, Lunney’s recommendation “recharacterized” retail and storage parts of the building as “office space,” which allowed him to “round up the number of spaces required.”

Lastly, the complaint says that part of the board’s denial was the proposed hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. But Nautilus leadership “indicated their willingness” to shorten hours for each day of the week.

Nautilus submitted its application in June, before the Zoning Board passed new rules regulating dispensaries and smoke shops. The company is led by Luis Vega, a Connecticut hemp farmer.

The business is an equity joint venture — a state designation that means it is coowned by established companies and individuals from areas disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of marijuana during the war on drugs. Vega partnered with Merida Capital, a cannabis industry private equity firm.

He had prospectively purchased the property from its current owner, Simi Ent LLC, a Long Island City, N.Y.-based company, which that state business records link to Merkourios Angeliades.

No actions have been taken yet on the case.