The Westport Planning & Zoning Commission met over Zoom tonight to continue a town-wide conversation about marijuana establishments and their place in Westport, or in this case, their prohibition from Westport. 

After the completion of the public hearing the P&Z voted unanimously to prohibit all businesses relating to recreational cannabis, including sales, storage, growing and manufacturing, from opening in Westport. The licensed, existing medical dispensary is exempted from this ban. There is no expiration on the prohibition but noted out by Commission Chair Danielle Dobin “The Westport Zoning Regulations are living, breathing and flexible rules subject to amendment in the future if there is a desire by members of the commission or members of the public to revisit this topic when there is further information available.”

Signed into law in June by Governor Ned Lamont, the marijuana legalization law outlines the new legislation’s goal to become a force to address racial, social and economic injustice - but leaves a lot of wiggle room as details are discussed in towns around the State. The new law mandates that any municipality with a population of 50,000 or more residents create a designated cannabis smoking location to preserve other spaces as non-smoking areas, while adding that all municipalities have the freedom to ban retail sale of marijuana via a town ordinance or through text amendment.

Town Attorney Nick Bamonte began the public hearing by describing the current climate surrounding the State’s legalization of recreational marijuana. Although legal, Bamonte gave examples of other communities who have full prohibitions on the table in light of the lack of State statute and organizational structures in place. Wilton, Weston, and Ridgefield are all considering full bans on all marijuana shops and dispensaries in their town boundaries, while Greenwich passed their full ban that went into effect in July. 

Connecticut communities such as Brooklyn, Vernon, Bridgeport, and Watertown have all accepted the State’s current offer for towns - allowing the towns to collect a 3% tax on all gross receipts from the sales of cannabis to only fund local street and neighborhood development, educational programs for youth employment and training, mental health and addiction services, and/or programs for individuals on probation and parole, according to Attorney Bamonte. 

When asked about the time frame for accepting or denying the State’s offer, Bamonte said that the State may start provisioning licences for facilities next Spring, however no legal window exists. Bamonte added that if the Town declines to allow the facilities in Westport now, they would later be managed like any other regular use building - more closely related to liquor package stores.

RTM member Jimmy Izzo brought up a former ordinance that he championed with former RTMer Greg Kraut, in which nearly 400 people supported the 2019 motion to ban even the incoming medical dispensary in order to prevent its transition to a recreational facility if the State should legalize weed. Although the ordinance wasn’t passed, Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young told the story of Watertown - whose similar ordinance was passed prior to the State’s legislation on recreational use, and the now shaky legal ground that it stands on. Attorney Bamonte was confident that the current Planning and Zoning text amendment was appropriate means of preventing the recreational stores, commercial growing operations, food manufacturing of cannabis baked goods and other edibles and other associated uses  from coming into Westport, a delay that Commission Chair Danielle Dobin said is helpful while more studies and information can be collected. 

Izzo also spoke in support of the amendment, citing “Drugged Driving” as a concern for recreational use - fearing that there are far too few programs and safeguards to prevent people, especially young people, from driving while high. 

Dr. Jay Walshon, an emergency physician, echoed the sentiment by Mr. Izzo, saying that both the emergency medicine and education fields are generally opposed to the quick legalization and retail sale of recreational use pot, describing the issues of driving while under the influence and the effects that cannabis has on a developing brain as reason enough to push the text amendment through. 

Although conversations around the subject have historically been heated, with law enforcement called to one meeting, tonight’s Zoom conversation ended as calmly as it started. “We want to give people more time rather than less time to understand the issue” Chairperson Dobin said, “once the licensing process has been clarified and we see which, if any, of our neighboring towns permit businesses related to recreational cannabis to open in their towns, we will better understand the zoning and traffic implications of permitting this use.” Dobin and several other Commissioners referenced the traffic generated by the drive through Starbucks on Post Road East as an example of how a popular retail outlet can create tremendous traffic disruption. “The last thing we need is to invite additional traffic without thoroughly vetting this properly” said Dobin.