Newtown cannabis business ban remains
Entrepreneur denied OK to open store on Route 25
NEWTOWN — Leaders denied a petition by a Torrington entrepreneur to lift the town ban on cannabis business and grant him permission to open a recreational pot shop on Route 25, because they had more concerns than reassurances.
“Do the high prices of the dispensary encourage people to purchase on the black market?” asked David Rosen, an alternate member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, at a hearing earlier this month. “Is there any data from the Torrington area on traffic violations and crime in relationship to the dispensary?”
Entrepreneur Tom Macre responded at the public hearing that “over the past two weeks producers have lowered the prices so in the coming months new prices will be on par with the black market,” and that crime in the area of his retail cannabis dispensary, Still River Wellness, was less of a concern than when it opened.
“The Torrington chief of police … said there was no increase of crime,” Macre said during the Feb. 2 hearing in Newtown. “There was actually a deterrence because of the high security.”
Macre, who opened a retail arm of his existing cannabis dispensary in Torrington this month, was appealing to the same five-member commission that became the first in the region to ban cannabis businesses in 2021 — on the same day that Connecticut’s law legalizing cannabis went into effect.
Since then, Danbury has
passed new regulations permitting a capped number of tax revenue-generating cannabis businesses, including retail sales to adults.
In response, a business group called BUD-R has received city permission to open a retail cannabis shop on busy commercial stretch of Federal Road on the east end, and an existing dispensary called The Botanist received permission to open a retail arm and operate as a hybrid business on a commercial stretch of Mill Plain Road on the west side.
The proposal in Newtown was to convert a 4,600-squarefoot
building with 100 parking spaces on Route 25 into recreational cannabis shop. For security, the entrance would be in the back of the building and “the windows will be frosted with opaque film to prevent the product being visible from exterior.”
At least one member of Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission didn’t like that image.
“I don’t like that only the rear entrance will be used and the front windows will be fogged,” commission vice chair Roy Meadows said.
Meadows added that he was
concerned about “distracted driving” and that the estimated $288,000 in annual tax revenue that the cannabis shop would generate for the town was “not significant enough.”
Commission member Corrine Cox agreed, saying she shared concerns about distracted driving and “exposure of cannabis to youth.”
“Why did you choose Newtown for your proposal?” Cox asked Macre during the early February public hearing.
Macre said his decision was “based on geographical location and trying to get access to the needs of consumers.”
In the end, the commission unanimously voted no on Macre’s petition to lift the ban on cannabis businesses and his request for permission to open a shop on Route 25.
The only two members of the public who spoke before the vote were split.
Lisa Capitani said she was in favor of the project.
Sherry Bermingham said she was concerned about traffic and would prefer the business be a standalone building rather than in a strip mall.