A proposal for a dispensary to be located at 104 Washington Avenue met a mixed reception at a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Sept. 9.

The proposal was brought forth by Fine Fettle, a cannabis business which has several locations in Connecticut, including Old Saybrook, and sells cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. The business intends to renovate part of the building at 104 Washington Avenue, the former site of Candid Cleaners.

“We think this is an ordinary retail use akin to what you classify as a drug store, no different than a CVS or Walgreens, like you have in town,” said Amy Souchens, an attorney with Hurwitz Sagarin Slossberg & Knuff LLC representing Fine Fettle. “That would be allowed as a permitted use in the CB [commercial business] zone.”

Souchens acknowledged the PZC’s position that Fine Fettle legality in town would be more akin to a special permit use granted to retail establishments for alcohol, something for which the cannabis business has noted and under which they are willing to submit their application.

The applicants are not unfamiliar with the shift in the application process. Fine Fettle CEO Benjamin Zachs noted that while there have been instances when Fine Fettle has been viewed as analogous to a pharmacy, especially given the medical half of their business, they have submitted and been approved with a special permit.

“We have nine approved locations now in the state, and of those, five have looked at us as analogous to retail, the other four had language in their regulations codifying us [as] needing a special use permit,” said Zachs. “We’ve had this handled in two separate regards.”

Souchens said there would be “no substantial changes” to the site of the existing building at 104 Washington Avenue.

The development of the dispensary was met with opposition from the Paul Mitchell School North Haven, the post-secondary cosmetology facility located across the street from the site.

Land Use Official Alan Fredericksen read from a letter sent to the PZC by the school’s owner Mario Landino, who was concerned that Fine Fettle’s close proximity “will cause a disturbance in our education process” at the school for its young adult student body of up to 180 students. Landino added that the school has a strict no-smoking policy for its students and that Fine Fettle’s proximity would make it easier to violate that policy.

Souchens disagreed with that view whilst citing town zoning regulations that interpret vocational and technical schools like the Paul Mitchell School as distinct from traditional or parochial schools where the presence of a dispensary could disturb public health and safety.

“When we look at the totality of these regulations, and how that’s interpreted, your uses and your definitions call out vocational and technical [schools] differently than what you would typically think of as schools,” said Souchens.

Further comment followed during the public hearing, which saw a mix of positive and negative comments on the proposal.

Alex Johnson said she was “very much in support of a dispensary coming to North Haven” as a new “business opportunity” to push the town forward economically and support a “constant growth and influx of new families coming in as older families are retiring” and moving away from town.

From a cultural standpoint, she said allowing the sale of marijuana would continue a trend seen in younger people as they chose marijuana as an alternative to alcohol.

“This is something that is attractive to us,” said Johnson. “A lot of my generation is moving away from liquor stores and are moving more towards marijuana, and moving to a town that has a marijuana dispensary is becoming a very attractive thing.”

Support for the dispensary was also found in a letter the PZC received before the meeting, as cited by Fredericksen.

An oppositional point of view came from Lana Claire Ives, who was concerned about the logistics of how the dispensary would operate, its disturbance to nearby residences, and how it is unnecessary that cannabis sales be in North Haven, given their availability in nearby towns.

“It seems like there are a lot of these places popping up in other towns which are nearby,” said Ives. “I don’t know why North Haven would need to have something. There are other places if people need to purchase something like that.”

Further public comments revolved around concerns of public health and safety, parking and density, and a dispensary not being a sound business for the town and its economic progress.

Following the public hearing, the PZC adopted zoning regulations, which effectively prohibit zoning for all future establishments that would intend to sell cannabis products after the time of its adoption. Legally, this means that Fine Fettle could still get approval for operation in North Haven.

Fine Fettle would be subject to zoning laws which would be grandfathered into regulations after the PZC’s approved amendment, according to Fredericksen.

“You are subject to the regulations that were in effect when you made the application,” he said. “Their application is still good. If their application is denied, and they want to, for instance, change locations, they will not be able to because it is prohibited as of the effective date [of the amendment].”

The public hearing on Fine Fettle’s proposal will continue at the next PZC meeting on Monday, Oct. 7.