Will Medicinal Pot Grow in Branford?

Prospective producers of medical marijuana are looking at Branford as a place to take root, and the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission says those facilities are covered under existing zoning regulations.

In other business Thursday, the commission continued a public hearing on two proposed retail stores on North Main Street, and asked the developer to reduce the amount of excavation.

“A Growing Industry”

Branford’s Assistant Planner Rich Stoecker says there have been inquiries about establishing a production site in Branford to grow medical marijuana. “A few people are looking at some sites in town,” said Stoecker, pictured at top right. “It’s a growing industry.”

There are currently nine dispensaries in the state, and four licensed production facilities.

The P&Z unanimously approved a dispensary in Branford in 2013. 

The town’s Bluepoint Wellness dispensary, which opened in 2014, expanded in 2016 into larger quarters in a former bank building on East Main Street. As of February, Bluepoint was serving more than 3,000 certified patients.

The program is regulated by the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which announced in January that they would accept applications for new marijuana dispensaries. DCP Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull said in January: “Our state’s medical marijuana program is incredibly successful, and is growing rapidly.”

The state hasn’t yet announced that it will be expand the number of production centers, but towns are anticipating that will happen.

Stoecker said Branford could be a likely location for a production facility since there is already a dispensary, and access to I-95 and I-91.

The P&Z staff has been looking at how other towns dealt with applications for production facilities. The four licensed producers are in West Haven, Watertown, Portland and Simsbury.

Stoecker said all four towns used existing manufacturing/industrial regulations when considering the applications — specifically the manufacturing, assembly and processing category. He said the four current facilities were former manufacturing or pharmaceutical sites.

Stoecker said that the DCP requires all marijuana be grown inside. The production facilities are responsible for growing and processing marijuana, and transporting it to licensed dispensaries.

The DCP must approve all production facilities, including security and location.

Currently, there are about 26,000 patients who are approved to use medical marijuana in Connecticut. There were about 2,000 registered patients when the program began in 2014. 

The state received more than 70 applications when the DCP announced in January it would approve at least three new dispensary locations.

The New Haven Independent reported that City Plan commissioners voted unanimously last week to approve a site plan for a proposed dispensary on Amity Road in New Haven.

Sites must have local zoning approval before the state considers their applications.

North Branford’s Planning and Zoning Commission is in the process of looking at their zoning regulations in regard to medical marijuana dispensaries and production facilities. A local moratorium on such facilities expires in June.

North Main Retail??

The public hearing for two proposed retail buildings at 250 North Main Street will continue at the June 7 meeting. Discussion Thursday centered on the amount of excavation, the size of the buildings and the amount of traffic.

The current plans call for two buildings, one would be 62,426 square feet; and the other would be 13,200 square feet. As part of the project, a traffic signal would be installed on Route 1 at the entrance to the site. The property is adjacent to the W. S. Clancy Memorial Funeral Home on one side; and United Tire Inc. and Greystone Manor condominiums on the other side.

John Schmitz (pictured above), an engineer with BL Companies of Meridan, presented new information Thursday stating that 12 parking spaces had been eliminated and that some proposed rock cuts had been decreased.

Town Planner Harry Smith (pictured) said removing a dozen parking spaces and lowering some of the rock wall was “a step in the right direction.”

However, Smith’s main concern, which he has expressed before, is that the size of the buildings could be decreased so that the amount of excavation and rock cuts could be reduced. He suggested trying to keep a maximum of 25-foot high rock slopes instead of 35-foot.

Smith said it’s important “to preserve natural terrain features of property and balance that with the appropriate amount of development.”

Schmitz said he would discuss this with the property owners.

P&Z chair Chuck Andres said there are no tenants yet, so it’s possible the buildings can be down-sized. “So maybe you can scale it back a bit.”

Commissioner John Lust (at left) said he was concerned about the amount of blasting, and would like to see what the plan would look like if the maximum height of the rock slope was reduced from 35 to 25 or 28 feet.

“I’ll make a commitment I’m going to go back and look at what we could do to resolve the height issue,” Schmitz said.

Fred Greenberg, a traffic engineer with BL Companies, said a traffic study was done the previous weekend on Chestnut Street where it intersects Route 1. ​“There will be some increased delay for people trying to get out of Chestnut Street,” Greenberg said.

Commissioner David Dyer said the recent traffic study doesn’t reflect the amount of traffic in the summer. ​“I’ve been stuck in that traffic every summer for 25 years,” he said.

Smith said the town engineer will look at the traffic reports.

The site is owned by Jeff Shapiro and family, who operate the Cedar Island Marina in Clinton. They have been attempting to develop the property since it was purchased in 1997. Costco looked at the site in 2003, and the town once considered it as a location for the Public Works building, which is still in a rental facility.

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