Weed Dispensary Eyes Long Wharf

Up next at Long Wharf Theatre (clockwise from top left)?: Model smoking INSA pre-rolled joint; theater's sign on Sargent Dr.; INSA cannabis chocolates; theater's current home in the Food Terminal.

Could the Long Wharf stage that hosted performances by Sam Waterston and Anna Deavere Smith become a spot to purchase Mellow Bar” cannabis chocolates and Infused Rocket” pre-rolled joints?

That possible future won a vote of support from an aldermanic committee that greenlit the legal sale of marijuana on Long Wharf — including on an industrial stretch of Sargent Drive where a Massachusetts-based cannabis dispensary hopes to move in to the longtime, soon-to-be-former home of Long Wharf Theatre.

The vote came Tuesday night at a Board of Alders Legislation Committee meeting, which was held in person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall. The meeting was also live video-streamed online via the alders’ YouTube account.

The committee alders voted unanimously in support of an amended version of a zoning amendment concerning the responsible and equitable regulation of adult-use cannabis,” as the title of the law change puts it.

That zoning update now advances to the full Board of Alders for a potential debate and final vote.

At the center of Tuesday night’s meeting was a discussion over where legal adult-use cannabis businesses should be allowed to set up in town. 

In particular, the committee alders heard testimony, quizzed city staff, and deliberated on whether or not the Long Wharf area is an appropriate location for such businesses.

They ultimately decided that it is, after hearing from representatives from the New Haven Food Terminal as well as from a Springfield, Mass.-based cannabis company that is looking to set up a dispensary in the Sargent Drive industrial building that will be vacated later this year by Long Wharf Theatre as part of that regional theater’s move to itinerancy.

Tuesday’s vote does not mean that that cannabis company will definitely set up a dispensary on Sargent Drive. The vote also does not mean that the cannabis company will definitely work out a lease agreement with the Food Terminal.

But it does make such a possibility more likely, by moving towards changing the city’s zoning code to legally permit such activity in that location. 

If approved by the full Board of Alders, the cannabis zoning amendment that passed out of committee on Tuesday night would require cannabis retailers, micro-cultivators, hybrid retailers, food and beverage businesses, product packagers, product manufacturers, and cultivators to receive a special permit in order to operate in business and industrial districts. It would require cannabis businesses to maintain a 500-foot distance from the boundary of a school building, as well as a 1,500-foot distance from each other. And it would ban cannabis businesses from residential districts, as well as from the River Street and Hill-to-Downtown planning districts,” among other areas.

These new proposed zoning regulations come as New Haven — and municipalities across Connecticut — work towards figuring out how to locally control for recreational adult-use cannabis, which the state legislature voted to legalize last year. State regulators are also still in the process of reviewing applications for a limited number of licenses for entrepreneurs interested in opening newly legalized cannabis businesses.

Click here to read the committee-amended version of the city’s proposed cannabis zoning amendment in full. Click here, here and here to read previous articles about this local cannabis zoning process. And click on the video above to watch part of Tuesday night’s meeting. The New Haven Food Terminal representatives’ testimony starts at the 23:00 minute mark, the cannabis dispensary representatives’ testimony starts at 38:00.

Cannabis On Long Wharf? Yes

The New Haven Food Terminal on Sargent Dr: Lots of parking.

Two of the key changes that the committee alders made on Tuesday night to the Elicker Administration’s proposed cannabis zoning amendment involved the map governing where marijuana sales may and may not take place in town.

The committee alders ultimately endorsed allowing legal cannabis sales to take place on Long Wharf — that is, within the bounds of the Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan, which stretches from Water Street to the north, the New Haven Harbor to the east, Hallock Avenue to the south, and Union Avenue to the west.

The committee alders also voted to not allow legal cannabis sales to take place in the city’s industrial Port District, which is directly across the harbor in the Annex neighborhood.

Those votes reversed the Elicker Administration’s initial waterfront cannabis zoning recommendations, which would have permitted legal pot sales in the Port District, but prohibited them on Long Wharf.

The committee alders made those map changes after hearing public testimony from representatives from the New Haven Food Terminal as well as from representatives from the Springfield, Mass.-based cannabis company INSA, who both spoke in favor of allowing legal cannabis sales on Long Wharf. 

Local attorney Mark Sklarz, New Haven Food Terminal President Francis Lettiero, and Hill resident Robert Hart argued that the Long Wharf district — or, at least, the section of Sargent Drive where the Food Terminal is located — should be open to legal cannabis sales because of how uniquely well situated that highway-adjacent location is to hosting a high-traffic business with minimal disruption to neighbors.

Sklarz also pointed out that a major tenant” of the Food Terminal’s — Long Wharf Theatre — plans on leaving its 25,200 square-foot space by the end of the calendar year. The Food Terminal landlord has already lined up a cannabis dispensary that potentially wants to move in and operate out of the regional theater’s soon-to-be-former long-time home.

We thought this would be an ideal tenant for us,” Lettiero said about the new cannabis dispensary looking to potentially move to Long Wharf Theatre’s spot in the Food Terminal on Sargent Drive.

We have access. We have parking. We have lighting.” He said that, of the 15 businesses that currently operate out of the Food Terminal — including a gas station, restaurants, and a hotel — most of them are on board with this.”

He said the cannabis dispensary would bring 50 to 60 new jobs.

I see no downside,” Lettiero said. The only obstacle right now is the City of New Haven.”

Sklarz agreed. This is an ideal location” for a cannabis business, he said about the Food Terminal’s buildings on Sargent Drive. It’s not close to any schools or churches. There’s ample parking.” And there’s an opportunity for the Terminal to bring a very good potential tenant, and we would generate substantial revenue for the city.”

Hart, a commercial insurance agent who lives on Howard Avenue and who represents the Food Terminal, also threw his support behind putting Long Wharf on the legal-cannabis zoning map. He said that one of his insurance company clients is a cannabis business in Rocky Hill. I haven’t had any claims there,” he said. They’re among the most well risk-managed clients I’ve had in 25 years.”

INSA's Steve Reilly, during a cannabis biz interview on New England Public Radio in June 2020.

Lettiero, Hart, and Sklarz weren’t the only ones to show up to Tuesday night’s aldermanic committee to call for legal cannabis sales on Long Wharf.

Steve Reilly, Clara Ann Jackson, and Tom Davis also made the trip on behalf of their Springfield, Mass.-based cannabis company, INSA.

Reilly — a co-founder of INSA who is also the business’s general counsel — said that INSA has been engaging with the Food Terminal about potentially doing a project there.”

That is: They are the company that the Food Terminal representatives referenced earlier in the night that wants to set up a cannabis dispensary at the Long Wharf Theatre location on Sargent Drive.

New Haven really is the gateway to go to the rest of New England,” Reilly said. Given the Food Terminal’s location at the intersection of I‑91 and I‑95, he said, there’s great traffic volume that comes through New Haven.” And there’s an opportunity for the city to have an impactful cannabis business in that area.”

Reilly listed the same attributes as Lettiero and Sklarz when talking about why he thought Sargent Drive would be perfect for a new cannabis dispensary: good traffic volume, lots of parking, lack of proximity to schools and churches and other sensitive receptors.”

Reilly predicted that the cannabis dispensary that INSA could bring to Sargent Drive would be similar to the one it currently runs in Springfield. That site also is near the highway, has high traffic volume and minimal impact on surrounding neighbors, he claimed. He said it also generates close to $1.5 million a year in tax revenue. Allowing a cannabis business like INSA’s to operate in the Long Wharf area could generate similar levels of tax dollars, he said.

Do you have plans to open up dispensaries elsewhere in the city, too? asked Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison. Or just on Long Wharf?

Reilly said his company’s plan is to set up a cannabis business in the Food Terminal on Long Wharf, and nothing beyond that” in New Haven.

After the Food Terminal and INSA representatives testified in support of allowing legal cannabis sales on Long Wharf, Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro Santana asked city staff to explain why they had decided to leave that part of the city out of their initial proposed cannabis zoning map.

Some of these decisions were made prior to my tenure,” City Plan Director Laura Brown said. (She took over the department on Feb. 28.)

Brown and city Assistant Corporation Counsel Michael Pinto also said that the Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan, which the city adopted in 2019, was put together before the statewide legalization of recreational adult-use cannabis — and therefore does not and did not consider how cannabis businesses might fit in with the city’s overall vision for a redeveloped mixed-use waterfront neighborhood.

The committee alders wound up siding with the arguments in favor of allowing legal cannabis sales on Long Wharf. Westville Alder Adam Marchand therefore moved to amend the zoning update to remove the Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan area from the list of prohibited locations for cannabis establishments.

Marchand cited the public testimony in support of allowing legal cannabis sales on Long Wharf as influencing his decision. Because of its proximity to major arterials,” he said about the area, it could offer the opportunity for a larger-scale operation” with minimal impacts on neighbors.

Morrison agreed. She said she had an opportunity to visit INSA’s Springfield site. Her takeaway: That area, just like the Food Terminal on Sargent Drive, is ideal for these types of businesses because you’re off the highway. … You don’t have to come to the community. You can just go in and go out and not really interrupt” any residential parts of town.

The site at Long Wharf would be the best location” for new cannabis businesses, she said, and at the same time, Long Wharf happens to have an opening coming up” — with Long Wharf Theatre’s coming departure from its long-time Food Terminal home.

The committee alders then voted unanimously in support of changing the proposed zoning map to allow for legal cannabis sales on certain parts of Long Wharf. (If approved by the full board, that won’t necessarily mean that legal cannabis sales can take place anywhere in the neighborhood. That’s because the zoning laws would still prohibit legal cannabis areas in certain districts — such as park districts — which currently fall within the Long Wharf neighborhood.)

Meanwhile, in a separate ongoing local legislative effort, the City Plan Department has proposed a 12-month development moratorium on Long Wharf to give the city time to rezone the area to attract more restaurants and shops, and fewer industrial uses like gas stations and truck repair facilities.

Cannabis In The Port District? No

Alders at Tuesday night's committee meeting.

City of New Haven map

Cannabis zoning map proposal from April; legal sales districts shaded in purple. Thanks to Tuesday's vote, the port district in the Annex would no longer be part of that purple, legal cannabis zone, and parts of Long Wharf would.

The other major zoning map change that the committee alders endorsed Tuesday night was adding the Port District to the list of areas where legal cannabis sales should not be allowed. 

That is, thanks to the change made by the committee, legal cannabis sales would be prohibited in the industrial waterfront area in the Annex that is currently home to the Port of New Haven.

Local attorney Carolyn Kone, New Haven Port Authority Executive Director Sally Kruse, Port Authority Board Chair John Abbagnaro, and Annex Alder Sal Punzo showed up to Tuesday night’s meeting to testify in support of prohibiting legal pot sales in the Port District.

New Haven’s port is the largest deepwater port in Connecticut and the highest volume port in Long Island Sound,” Kruse said. It is the major gateway to Western New England for fuels and lumber, steel wires, salt and sand.”

She said that scrap metal is currently shipped out of the port, and there’s interest in port operators in exporting wood pellets, as well.

She said the port businesses represent millions of dollars in taxpayer money” and employ hundreds of people.

Kruse pointed out that the state and federal governments are currently investing a lot of money into building out the port, including by sending $63 million towards deepening the navigation channel, which will allow larger vessels to enter the port and make the port more efficient, she said.

We can make the most of these improvements by enabling port operators to efficiently” use land near the docks for port-related purposes like building more warehouses, Kruse said. But in order to do that, They need access to land near the docks.” And allowing cannabis businesses to operate in this area, she said, would add undue competition for this scarce land.

She said the port district is not appropriate for cannabis businesses, and called on the alders to remove it from the proposed zoning map.

DFA New Haven, Tweeting about Tuesday's hearing.

Abbagnaro agreed. The city created the port authority by ordinance in 2003 to help the economic development of the city, specifically by stimulating the shipment of freight.” Allowing for cannabis businesses to set up in this part of the city will go counter to that city-sanctioned mission.

The port has limited space,” added Punzo. The space should be used for maritime use only. The land could be an economic driver for the city.” He asked his colleagues to remove the district from the list of parts of town where cannabis businesses can legally operate.

Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin asked city staff to respond to the port authority’s representatives’ concerns. Why did the city initially include the port area as one where cannabis should be able to be legally bought and sold?

I think their points are well taken,” City Plan Director Brown said about the port authority’s concerns. She recognized that it would indeed be wise to start with a little bit more restriction and loosen restrictions” depending on how cannabis businesses roll out across the city.

During the alders’ deliberations towards the end of the committee meeting, Marchand then moved an amendment that would add the Port District to the list of areas where cannabis businesses should be prohibited.

I found the arguments in favor of this change compelling,” he said. 

Morrison agreed. The city could always change the map later on, she said, if it decides it would be a good idea to allow cannabis businesses in this part of town.

What About Dixwell?

Tuesday night's Legislation Committee meeting.

The only other member of the public to call for a neighborhood cannabis prohibition at Tuesday night’s Legislation Committee meeting was Webster Street resident and Dixwell Community Management team member Jean Jenkins.

Jenkins spent most of her time at the mic reading from a letter pre-submitted by the management team’s chair.

She said that the management team is opposed to allowing cannabis shops to open up in the Dixwell area.”

This issue is entrenched with possibilities of negative influence,” she said, given that Dixwell has so many schools, churches, and senior citizen residences.

The Dixwell community is on the road to creating positive programs in the community and uplifting the community,” she said, referring to the recently opened new Q House community center. A local redevelopment team has also won approval to knock down Dixwell Plaza and build in its stead a bustling mix of apartments, stores, and cultural venues. 

We feel that allowing for the sale of cannabis, though legal in the State of Connecticut, will initiate a total destruction of the Dixwell community,” Jenkins read.

After finishing reading from the management team chair’s letter, Jenkins addressed the committee alders herself.

I just feel like, right now, we’re trying to take the Dixwell area in a different direction,” she said. Everyone knows Dixwell has problems. We just don’t want this to add on to everything else going on in the Dixwell area.”

Towards the end of the meeting, Morrison, who represents the Dixwell neighborhood on the Board of Alders, broached the idea with her legislative colleagues of banning cannabis businesses from operating in Dixwell. 

After initially looking to move an amendment that would have prohibited such businesses in Dixwell, Morrison instead promised to talk more with her colleagues about such a potential Dixwell-specific ban before the full Board of Alders takes the zoning amendment up for a final vote later this summer.

Not to say that cannabis will bring down the community,” Morrison said. But the visual wouldn’t be good for the different things we’re trying to do” in the neighborhood. Finally we’re getting some real traction in Dixwell. I think to add cannabis usage there, it kind of goes opposite to what we’re trying to do.”

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