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09/29/2021 08:30 AMThe Town Council will propose an ordinance that prohibits marijuana establishments in Clinton and smoking on town property. The council will review a proposed ordinance at its next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 6.
Earlier this year, Connecticut legislators passed a bill that legalized recreational marijuana use by adults in the state. As a result, it was up to local zoning authorities to come up with regulations that either allowed or did not allow for a retail cannabis stores to open. At meeting on Sept. 13, the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) voted against proposed amendments to the zoning regulation that would have allowed a retail cannabis store to open in Clinton.
Two days later, the Town Council unanimously agreed to have Town Manager Karl Kilduff move forward with the drafting of an ordinance that would ban retail cannabis shops from opening in Clinton and would also place parameters on where people can and cannot smoke in town.
“The PZC denied a regulation to allow for a cannabis establishment. With the denial, no regulation is in place beyond the existing zoning regulation which prohibits medical marijuana establishments,” Kilduff explained to the Harbor News.
While the PZC voted to deny the proposed regulations, that doesn’t mean the commission explicitly banned stores, which left open a loophole through which a business can still apply to open. Rather than wait for the PZC to propose new regulations that banned the sale of cannabis, then schedule a public hearing, then vote to adopt the regulation, the council decided that proposing an ordinance would be a quicker way to achieve the goal.
“The state statute allows towns to decide on the establishment of cannabis establishments by either zoning regulation or local ordinance. The council expressed an interest in acting to prohibit a cannabis establishment following the PZC decision. The council would want to also pass an ordinance which responds to the use of marijuana products on town-owned properties (regardless of any zoning decision). The statute allows for a ban on consumption, too,” said Kilduff.
Kilduff said that a proposed ordinance is being drafted and will available for the Oct. 6 council meeting. At that meeting, the council will review the proposed ordinance and then can schedule a public hearing. The council members can then vote to enact the ordinance following the public hearing.
“Every town has taken a different approach to implementing a decision around recreational marijuana. Some have prohibited it by zoning regulation. Some have acted by ordinance. Some have passed a temporary moratorium on application to study the issue and understand the ramifications,” said Kilduff, who added that a decision should be in place before January.
The Town Council currently has a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 20 for proposed changes to other regulations, and Chair Chris Aniskovich said during the Sept. 15 meeting that he hopes the marijuana ordinance could be added to that public hearing.
When discussing the proposed ordinance, several of the council members mentioned that they agreed with banning cannabis retail establishments based on how many people at the PZC public hearing were against the proposal.
“In light of a lot of the testimony on Monday night, which was overwhelmingly opposed to this measure and being in the interest of the citizens, I think we have to move forward with this,” said council member Eric Bergman.
At the public hearing, 15 speakers in addition to six members of the PZC spoke against the proposal to allow retail marijuana in Clinton versus only one member of the public and one PZC member who spoke in favor.
Reasons cited for being opposed to the operation of a cannabis retail store in Connecticut included fears that a store would drain public safety resources, send a negative message to the town’s youth, affect the character of the town, and attract a negative environment to the town.
More information about the Sept. 13 PZC hearing can be found on zip06.com and the Sept. 23 issue of the Harbor News.