In a unanimous decision at its Nov. 1 meeting, the Essex Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) has approved a text amendment that would allow for the cultivation and sale of cannabis.

The vote came following the Commission’s first and only public hearing on the matter. Prior to an Aug. 2 meeting, members of PZC received a draft of a proposed zoning text amendment application to add a section regarding adult-use cannabis cultivation and sale and medical marijuana dispensary and production. At that meeting, the commissioners voted to receive the amendment application and scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 4. The Oct. 4 meeting was canceled, and the public hearing was continued to the Nov. 1 meeting.

The public hearing was opened and closed at the Nov. 1 meeting, leaving some residents in attendance to complain about a lack of public input.

“I get it. The clock is ticking. It’s come down to the wire to make a big decision. The last thing standing in the way of this very big decision is this public hearing. This issue has been on the plate of this commission for two years, and town citizens have had zero solicited input into crafting this very important, life-altering legislation until now," resident Robert Virtari said. "And now, with little time left, it has come down to the wire with all decisions made unilaterally without public input.”

The Commission implemented a one-year moratorium on receiving any marijuana-related applications at its Dec. 7, 2021 meeting. At that meeting, Chairman Russell Smith created the cannabis subcommittee, seating PZC members David Rosengren, Jane Siris, and Jeff Lovelace as members, and charged the group with exploring options for governing the sale of cannabis.

Under the newly approved text amendment, "no marijuana dispensary facilities, medical marijuana production facilities, and adult-use cannabis retail (for recreational use) and cultivation shall occur within the Town of Essex until such time as a Special Exception has been granted by the Commission."

While the text would appear to disallow cannabis sales, it serves to set limitations on where such a facility would be allowed to file an application.

According to Land Use Official Carey Duques, the text amendment spells out three different areas in town that would allow consideration of cannabis-related facilities.

“The proposed regulation talks about allowing for dispensaries and production in three different zones which would be the commercial zone, the business zone, and the limited industrial," Duques explained.

Duques said that Essex Village does not fall within those zones, even though some in attendance for the public hearing questioned the difference between the Village's commercial businesses and those, for example, in Centerbrook.

“It’s not based on location but district which is an important difference,” Duques said.

In addition to allowing applications for limited zones, the text amendment also prohibits marijuana- and cannabis-related facilities within the same building or structure of any building used for residential purposes. It additionally prohibits facilities within 1,500 feet of a school or within 200 feet of a religious institution.

In arguing to approve the presented amendment, Commission member Robert Day said PZC had two options: approve the amendment and establish regulations for appropriate locations for cannabis sales, or don't approve the amendment and allow sales everywhere in town.

“The legislature has decided to make this legal. If we do nothing, we vote no, and we don’t extend the moratorium, [and] this will be allowed wherever retail is allowed," Day said. “The reason for approving this is because a new retail business has been added by the Connecticut Legislature. It’s our duty as the Planning and Zoning Commission to regulate where things are allowed in our town. And, again, we’ve had it bestowed upon us by the legislature that there’s a new business allowed, and we’re going to say where it can be.”

With the PZC's approval, the new text amendment outlines signage restrictions and parking and security requirements. Any potential facility will be required to have off-street parking and an "adequate security system to prevent and detect diversion, theft, or loss of marijuana." Dispensaries will also be limited to operating between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m seven days a week. Retailers will be limited to operating between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. seven days a week.

Despite approving the amendment, any would-be facility or retailer would need to apply for a special permit. Any dispensary or retailer would be subject to conditional approval by PZC.

This is to get ahead of the issue without having applications but at some point, an application would come in some part of the governance of Essex would have a chance to approve or deny," said PZC member Peter Fleischer.