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06/30/2023 09:20 AMWESTBROOK
At a Westbrook Zoning Commission meeting on June 26, the commission voted to deny an application from two citizens who sought a zoning text amendment that would have prohibited retail cannabis stores in the Neighborhood Commercial District (NCD).
In response to a controversial application allowing a retail marijuana store to open in Westbrook, two residents have applied for a zoning text amendment so that the use would not be welcome in the NCD.
In July 2022, the Zoning Commission approved regulations that allowed retail marijuana stores by special permit in the neighborhood commercial, turnpike interchange, industrial, and light industrial districts. In January 2023, the commission approved an application from BUDR Holding 3 LLC to open a retail cannabis store at 755 Boston Post Road, which is located in the NCD.
A group called Westbrook Citizens, headed by residents Jack Zamary and David Russell, filed an application last month with the town that, if approved, would have prohibited retail cannabis in the NCD. Westbrook Citizens is described as a group of 30 residents living in the NCD.
On the application, the applicants stated the reason for their application was a fear that cannabis sales would negatively impact families and interfere with the neighborhood’s character. If the application from Westbrook Citizens was approved, it would not affect the previous approval for the business located at 755 Boston Post Road.
Westbrook Zoning Enforcement Officer Steve Hnatuk explained earlier, “This would have no direct effect on the previous approval but would render the prior approval a preexisting nonconforming use.”
However, following a somewhat contentious public hearing on June 26, the commission voted 4-1 to deny the application. Chairman Harry Ruppenicker Jr., Linda Nolf, Mike J. Engels Jr., and Vincent J. Gentile voted for, while Dwayne Xenelis voted against denying the application.
Xenelis said that he felt that if the commission realized how opposed some residents of the NCD were to the original marijuana retail regulations, the commission might have voted differently and viewed this application as a way to right a wrong.
In his staff report, Hnatuk noted significant reservations about approving the application. First, Hnatuk said that if approved, the text amendment would make the business at 755 Boston Post Road a preexisting nonconformity that could continue forever.
Hnatuk also added that the applicants had not provided hard data to back up their claims, only speculation, which the commission cannot use to make a decision.
“There are currently no operating cannabis retail establishments in the Town of Westbrook, and neither the Zoning Commission nor the town have been provided evidence which demonstrates potential negative externalities associated with such uses beyond those which can be reasonably avoided and regulated by the town’s zoning regulations or conditions of approval,” Hnatuk said.
He went on to say he was against reversing a regulation that was found to be consistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) not even a year after it was approved.
“Both the Planning Commission and Town Zoning Commission found the regulations as currently written to be consistent with the Town’s 2021 Plan of Conservation and Development and approved the language unanimously. There is no evidence in the record to suggest that the commission’s prior decision was inconsistent with the town’s POCD,” the report said.
“Staff remains concerned that should this application be approved, it would disregard the significant effort that this commission participated in when these regulations were adopted, the findings of consistency by both the Planning and Zoning commissions in 2022, and the potential short- and long-term impacts associated with assigning a nonconforming status to the previously approved cannabis establishment,” the report concluded.
A Contentious Meeting
Prior to the vote, a public hearing over the application was held. Zamary and Russell gave a brief presentation on the proposed amendment and why they were in favor of it. Zamary explained that the group wasn’t necessarily opposed to retail marijuana, just that it was allowed in the NCD. “We don’t feel it’s the right fit for the community,” Zamary said.
Russell meanwhile argued that the beach communities in town that border Route 1 need to be protected from increased traffic to the area. The meeting was heavily attended, largely by residents of the NCD area, who applauded Zamary and Russell after they spoke.
The meeting got a bit heated after Hnatuk read his report and Ruppenicker began speaking with the applicants. Ruppenicker pointed out that just because a crowd of people showed up at the meeting doesn’t mean the public as a whole supports the proposed amendment. Ruppenicker said that in his experience, more people are more likely to show up at a meeting when they oppose something — such as marijuana sales in the NCD — than when they support something.
When Ruppenicker pointed out that the majority of the people in attendance at the meeting were NCD residents or “beach people,” that offended resident Frances Russell who found that term offensive and chastised the commission. Ruppenicker explained that it meant “people who live by the beach” and that he didn’t mean anything derogatory by the term.
When Connecticut legislators passed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana use by adults in the state in 2021, the bill left it up to local municipalities to control its sale in each town.
In the summer of 2022, the Zoning Commission debated retail cannabis regulations, and the members tried several times to solicit public opinion on the matter. That included holding public hearings and conducting a community survey. However, the Zoning Commission received little feedback on the topic and approved the regulations to allow retail marijuana in Westbrook with little fanfare. The Zoning Commission meetings and survey were both reported on by the Harbor News.
At the meeting on June 26, multiple residents told the Zoning Commission that they were never given the survey, were not aware that the commission had been debating marijuana sale regulations, and that had they known that, they would have opposed the move at the time.
Nolf pointed out that the Harbor News had covered the issues and asked those who don’t receive the paper to raise their hands. The majority of attendees indicated that they do get the paper, and Nolf recommended those who do not look into getting the paper delivered. This, too, drew the ire of some citizens.
Once the BUDR retail application was filed in the fall, the public interest tremendously increased. Despite heavy turnout with a majority of speakers opposed to the BUDR application, it was approved with conditions in January 2023.
Following the approval of the application, a group of residents — including Zamary and Russell — filed an appeal of the decision in Middletown Superior Court.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the commission “acted illegally, arbitrarily, unreasonably” in approving the application. The lawsuit is ongoing, according to the state judicial website.
Though the original BUDR application was approved, the applicant was also back before the Zoning Commission on June 26 to seek to modify some of the conditions surrounding the approval.