Town Takes High Bazaar To Court

Hamden has filed a court order to shut down the ​“High Bazaars” that have been attracting hundreds of people to town each weekend for a commercial cannabis carnival for the past six months.

Undaunted, the organizing crew was already scrambling to move the gathering to a new location in time to reassemble this weekend, without missing a beat.

The case pits the town’s official quest for zoning compliance and public safety with its unofficial (but pretty much official) embrace of the weekly gatherings of cannabis entrepreneurs and their customers.

An added wrinkle: The town served papers in the case to an event organizer who also has been selected to help the town draft zoning regulations around cannabis sales — papers that charge him of violating zoning laws while hosting large parties out of an industrial warehouse.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Holly Masi filed both a cease and desist order and request for a court injunction against the community leader, Joseph Raymond Accettullo, as well as Cavallaro Enterprises LLC for holding weekly gatherings featuring live music and cannabis samples in a hotboxed storage room at 18 Crest Way without the proper zoning permits. A judge granted the injunction, which is signed by Fire Marshal Brian Dolan, Building Official Carlo Sarmiento, and Chief of Police John Sullivan.

Those events, known far and wide as Hamden’s ​“high bazaars,” have been going on since weed was legalized in Connecticut last July. Accettullo has been bringing people together over cannabis in two different spots: Outside of The Cellar on Treadwell when the weather’s warm, and inside a building meant to house landscaping equipment over on Crest Way when it’s cold. 

The latter site, 18 Crest Way, is an industrial-zoned space owned by Michael Cavallaro, who has been renting the site out to Accettullo on a monthly basis since November.

Though the High Bazaars have been publicized via social media as ​“private parties,” they have drawn crowds featuring hundreds of diverse visitors from Hamden and beyond each week. Even Ron Gambardella, Hamden’s 2021 Republican candidate for mayor, attended the bazaar over the summer and posted on Facebook about his positive experience meeting with local ​“vendors” and discussing how to help Hamden profit off cannabis.

For the past half year, the Garrett administration has remained generally supportive of the bazaars. Mayor Lauren Garrett appointed Accettullo to a cannabis task force charged with creating a blueprint of how to equitably regulate marijuana within town.

But following a series of reports by local news outlets questioning the legality of the events, which rely on a ​“gifting” policy laid out in state legislation to allow individuals to exchange samples of cannabis products, zoning enforcement stepped in to enforce rules.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Masi said that the problem with the events has nothing to do with cannabis. The problem is that the crew never applied for permits to hold such large-scale gatherings in a space that is not approved to hold so many people.

“The use of the property for a cannabis bazaar without the appropriate permits from the Town of Hamden poses an unreasonable threat to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Hamden,” reads the injunction.

Risking Another Oakland?

The document, signed by Masi, states that Accettullo and Cavallaro never applied for permits to use the site’s building, which has a certificate of occupancy only for the storage of landscaping equipment. The site is not zoned for public assembly.

Masi said the crew should have applied for permits to allow public assembly, amusement, and/or bazaars and raffles.

“Because the defendants did not apply for the appropriate permits,” the injunction states, ​“the town was not able to provide the necessary police, fire and public health resources.”

In order to legally operate the bazaars, Accettullo and his landlord would have had to apply for permits that would trigger health and fire inspections. 

Masi pointed to deadly warehouse fires — such as the Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36 people in Oakland back in 2016 — as the reason going through bureaucratic processes can be crucial in preventing disaster.

“Even if his event is a great event, he needs to be in compliance, especially with hundreds of people attending each event,” Masi told the Independent.

“This property is not zoned for an assembly use,” she stated, pointing to the strings of cars that have lined the streets outside Crest Way each week while hundreds attend the bazaar.

If something went wrong on site, Masi wondered, would emergency vehicles be able to get through the crowd to help?

“This is why assembly use requires the stringent regulatory process — if the town knows of possible unsafe conditions and does nothing about it, they are liable and code enforcement officials can be personally sued.”

She emphasized that the cease and desist order was not intended to shut down the events because they involved the exchange of cannabis, but because of noncompliance with zoning regulations.

Mayor Garrett echoed Masi’s concerns.

She said that though she has long been aware of the events, Fire Marshall Brian Dolan only approached her in early February with concerns about how the site was being run.

“You can only have nine people in that building,” she said of the building on 18 Crest Way, which is zoned for storage. Instead, there were hundreds of individuals packing into the warehouse every weekend for months.

However, on Feb. 6, when Dolan, who declined to comment for this article, visited the site alongside Building Inspector Carlo Sarmiento, he was refused entry by those running High Bazaar.

Garrett said she had been informed there was a stage that had been built in the warehouse for musical performances that was coated in black plastic with gasoline stored beneath. ​“Because he wouldn’t let the fire marshall in to see what’s going on, it’s hard to know,” she said.

However, she also pointed out that the exits to the warehouse are only 36 inches wide, which would pose difficulties if the hundreds of people inside had to evacuate in an emergency.

“My concern is people could be burned alive in a building,” she said.

“Once those fire hazards are brought to attention,” Garrett added, it’s necessary to take action.

The order Masi filed states that Accettullo must cease and desist all parties and events at 18 Crest Way and may not be allowed to hold additional events until all of their zoning approvals and permits are granted and other requirements and conditions met.

If Accettullo does not comply with the order within ten days — or, by Feb. 19 — he will be subject to fines of up to $90 per day of willful violation.

“I support cannabis,” Garrett said. ​“My concern is the safety of the public at this event. As long as they don’t return to a warehouse that’s zoned for storage, I would be much happier.”

Garrett provided Accettullo with a list of possible locations that are already zoned for public assembly. If High Bazaar works out of a space already zoned for public use — rather than in an industrial warehouse — the organizers will not have to go through the lengthy planning and zoning process to apply for a zoning amendment, but can seek direct approval from the administration through presentation of the site plan.

“Accettullo was never in zoning compliance nor did Accettullo ever seek to obtain zoning compliance,” Economic Development Director Erik Johnson told the Independent. However, Johnson noted that unlike the site on Crest Way, the old High Bazaar spot outside of The Cellar on Treadwell is indeed zoned for public use.

Johnson said that to operate out of Treadwell, Accettullo would have to apply for a special event permit and go through processes to improve safety and security plans, a blueprint for crowd control, agree to adhere to requirements put forward by Quinnipiac Valley Health Districts, and get approval from the fire department on an exit plan and all structures, including tents.

Defying The Odds

According to Accettullo, High Bazaar is still on for this weekend — but outside of The Cellar, rather than in the Crest Way warehouse. 

Accettullo said that he has terminated his lease at Crest Way and will not be returning. Instead, he said, he intended to submit a site plan to the Garrett administration Thursday afternoon to begin getting approvals to keep the party going on Treadwell.

Cavallaro, who leased the property to Accettullo, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

“My intention was never to put anyone in jeopardy,” Accettullo said. He said that he declined the fire marshall access to the property on Crest Way because he came by during the last hour of a weekend event, when Accettullo had already agreed with the town to stop operating out of Crest Way.

He added that he didn’t apply for bazaar permits early on because ​“they were a little abrasive in terms of having police” on site. At times during the zoning process, he said, ​“the community felt like it was being attacked.” 

He noted that his High Bazaar Instagram page, which had over 11,00 followers, had been taken down earlier that month, and High Bazaar was working to battle stigma to keep growing their community.

“I apologize for any misunderstandings of anything that was miscommunicated,” Accettullo said. But, ​“if there’s a court order and they’re forcing me out… this is a community. It’s like a Jedi resistance. So you can can stop me and the Craft Cannabis Alliance, but we have 12 groups from around the state who live and breathe this, and they’re gonna keep bringing their tents.”

At a vendors association meeting held by Accettullo on Wednesday night, he informed his High Bazaar crew of the status of the court injunction.

“We had a court order dropped on us today,” he said. ​“We’re adapting as we go.”

“There will be a high bazaar every single fucking week,” he asserted. ​“I can promise that.”

“Just give us some time and patience.”

One audience member spoke up: What about the money he had paid for tables for the coming month? When would he be reimbursed?

“I’m asking something of you …” Accettullo started, trying to highlight the uncertainty of how High Bazaar will operate from here on out.

“But it goes both ways,” the vendor responded. He wanted his $600 deposit back.

“Here’s your money! Bye! You’re done,” organizer Cody Roberts jumped in.

“Holy shit, I wouldn’t wanna be him,” the audience murmured.

“I don’t want to end this on a sour note,” Accettullo said. For right now, High Bazaar is still happening on Saturday — though Sunday is canceled because of predicted snow.

The following week, Jordon Edward, a fellow organizer, was scheduled to host his own event, ​“Defy The Odds” for the High Bazaar — a pop culture affair featuring comedian Chris Cyr.

He said he hopes his event will draw Black and brown participants to High Bazaar by virtue of the entertainers scheduled to perform.

The court injunction, he said, is ​“at the end of the day, just another hurdle.”

“The greatest Americans broke rules to move forward,” he said. The injunction, in his mind, was the same as ​“breaking history.”

“We gotta just keep moving forward,” he said. ​“Defy the odds.”