All new applications for retail cannabis are on hold for six months after a July 24 vote by the Westbrook Zoning Commission. The moratorium will allow the commission time to form a committee to study the issue further.

On June 26, the Zoning Commission accepted an application from the commission itself for a six-month moratorium on applications related to retail cannabis in town. On July 24, the commission opened and closed a public hearing over the application before voting to enact the moratorium later that meeting.

According to the text of the application, the commission voted to enact a “temporary moratorium related to the acceptance, review, and/or approval of applications seeking to establish the use of land and/or structures for cannabis retail establishments.”

The application also states that while in effect, “The commission will evaluate the potential impacts of recently approved cannabis retailers in the Town of Westbrook and the State of Connecticut.”

The moratorium will not impact the operations of a recently approved retail marijuana store to be located at 755 Boston Road.

The Hearing and Allegations

The public hearing over the moratorium drew several residents speaking in favor over it, with some speakers even asking the commission to consider extending the moratorium to a full year so that summer residents who live elsewhere during the year have time to weigh in on the issue.

The commission wasn’t as keen on that suggestion due to potential legal ramifications of not adhering to the length of the originally advertised moratorium. However, some commission members were interested in forming a committee to study the issue.

Commission member Vince Gentile was not as enthusiastic about that idea. Gentile pointed out that some of the reasons given by people opposed to retail marijuana in Westbrook — such as a fear of increased violent crime — were purely hypothetical and not based on evidence. Gentile said he hoped any future conversations about the issue would be productive.

Gentile irked some people in the audience when he said that, in his opinion, the people pushing back on retail marijuana were antibusiness. In speaking with the Harbor News after the meeting, Gentile reiterated his point and said he felt that most people concerned about retail marijuana were a vocal minority of residents who live by the beach and are worried about tourists impacting their beaches.

Gentile also told the Harbor News that he felt the commission should have discussed the application further before accepting it.

Gentile, a Democrat and the chairperson of the Democratic Town Committee, said he felt like Zoning Commission chairman Harry Ruppenicker, a Republican, was using the six-month moratorium to put the controversial issue off until after the upcoming municipal election.

Ruppenicker denied that charge and pointed out that the Democrats had a much smaller slate of endorsed candidates in the 2023 election than the Republicans.

“If the Democrats think one of the seats they’re challenging hinges on one vote, maybe they should recruit more candidates,” Ruppenicker quipped.

In the upcoming election, Republican commission members Linda Nolf and Dwayne Xenelis are the only incumbent candidates up for reelection. Back in January, the vote to approve the retail marijuana store on Route 1 crossed party lines, with Nolf, Ruppenicker, Mike J. Engels, and Gentile voting to approve the application. Xenelis meanwhile voted in opposition to the application.

Ruppenicker went on to explain that the six-month moratorium was meant to give the operators for the recently approved store at 755 Boston Post Road a chance to open so the commission could gauge the impact of the store.

Ruppenicker said the moratorium could be extended if the commission felt it was needed.

“Six months seemed like a reasonable timeline,” he said.

“The state is getting more involved in zoning matters, and I think this is new territory for us. The state is dumping these issues on local zoning boards, and we’re doing the best we can,” Ruppenicker added.

When it came time to approve the moratorium application, Gentile abstained from the vote and was the lone person not to vote in favor of it.

Complicated Past

Over the last year, the commission has spent significant time reviewing applications centered around one matter: retail marijuana in Westbrook. The issue has inspired substantial turnout at some public hearings, frustrated citizens, and even a lawsuit.

The moratorium is meant as a way for the commission to revisit the regulation in town. Former Westbrook Zoning Enforcement Officer Steve Hnatuk explained the impetus for the moratorium application last month.

“The application for the moratorium was requested by the Zoning Commission. It will allow the commission time to evaluate the potential impacts of recently approved cannabis retailers in the Town of Westbrook and the State of Connecticut and allow the opportunity to investigate potential revisions to the current regulations should they be necessary.” Hnatuk said.

Marijuana sales in Westbrook have been a long saga that started with a whisper and turned into a roar.

In 2021, Connecticut legislators passed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana use by adults in the state. The bill left it up to local municipalities to control its sale in each town.

In July 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 by special permit in the neighborhood commercial, turnpike interchange, industrial, and light industrial districts with little fanfare.

However, in the fall of 2022, BUDR Holding 3 LLC filed an application to open a retail cannabis store at 755 Boston Post Road, and things changed.

Across two public hearings concerning that application, the vast majority of speakers who came in person were against the application. Residents voiced concerns about increased traffic, fear of increased crime, and a negative reputation for the town. Social media comments, on the other hand, were more receptive to the application being approved.

Despite the outcry from citizens, the commission approved the application from BUDR in January. Shortly after that approval, a group of residents 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.