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Connecticut - If all goes as planned, one of the state's first legal marijuana farms will be growing and harvesting plants on Burr Court in buildings tucked between Fairfield Avenue and Interstate 95. And Councilwoman Susan Brannelly, D-130, who represents the neighborhood, isn't just OK with the project. She's enthusiastic about it. "It would be a real benefit for the city," said Brannelly, who toured the site when owner Joe Palmieri was successfully seeking his zoning approvals in October. "I hate to see people turn their backs on a legitimate business. We could be on the ground level of something that's really very revolutionary in our world."
While neighboring communities and other municipalities across the state have erected roadblocks to keep the new medical marijuana industry out -- or at least, at bay -- Bridgeport has been more welcoming. And no, the industrial smoke plumes that once identified the city as a manufacturing hub aren't about to be replaced anytime soon by a marijuana haze. But by virtue of not pursuing moratoriums or crafting tougher zoning rules, Mayor Bill Finch's administration has shown a willingness to welcome the grow houses and dispensaries allowed by a 2012 state law.
"We definitely have not contemplated a moratorium," said David Kooris, hired last year as the city's head of economic development. "We have a commitment to meet the needs of our population." Instead, Kooris said, the administration has steered proposed projects to what the city considers the most appropriate locations. Farms like Palmieri's are planned for more industrial neighborhoods, with vacant buildings that the city has already promoted as ideal for urban agriculture. "As for the dispensaries, we've tried to steer folks towards the hospital areas, commercial corridors, medical office districts," Kooris said. "Places where you already have patients coming in and out."
On Monday, the Planning and Zoning Commission will consider an application by Robert Schulten and his Nutmeg Dispensary to open a marijuana dispensary in a North End office building at 4750 Main St. This is Schulten's second attempt to get his application approved. In November 2012, zoning commissioners shot down his proposal for a farm in an old East Side warehouse at 50 Hastings St. For some zoning commissioners, the reality of medical marijuana was still new, if not nebulous. They questioned the security and wondered how Schulten would prevent employee theft of the crops. Zoning Commission Chairman Mel Reilly joked if the warehouse caught fire, crowds would be "gathering around and inhaling."
Schulten, who last year said he wasn't going out of his way to draw attention to the proposal, did not respond to requests for comment about his new dispensary plan. Brannelly said she supports Palmieri because he is a proven local businessman who co-founded Connecticut Tank Removal, also located at Burr Court. "(They) really have a real solid, clean, well-kept operation," Brannelly said. Even so, Palmieri said, he worked hard to make city leaders comfortable with the idea of a marijuana farm, from Kooris and Finch's chief of staff Adam Wood to fire and police officials.
"This is the first wave. It's almost like after Prohibition with the bars opening up," Palmieri said. "For every one (person) that understands it, there are two that don't. And they have a heightened level of sensitivity because, for years, it's been harped on as being so bad." Palmieri is currently growing tomatoes at Burr Court as he awaits state approval. With Palmieri, Schulten and others competing for an extremely limited number of state licenses -- three for producers and three to five for dispensaries -- having local zoning approvals in hand is key. "We won't issue a license without local zoning compliance," said William Rubenstein, commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which accepted nearly two dozen applications for dispensary licenses and another 16 for growing farms earlier this month.
Kooris said some of the applicants rebuffed by other towns are looking at Bridgeport as a possible site to do business. But, Kooris cautioned, although the Finch administration is not against medical marijuana, each proposal must be vetted by the planning and zoning process. In the end, that's what matters most, said David Lipton, president of Connecticut Wellness Centers LLC of Fairfield. Lipton's proposal for a dispensary in Fairfield was rejected by town officials. He's now pursuing dispensaries in Hartford and New Haven counties. He has also considered Bridgeport.
"But I did not feel I would be able to get a positive outcome in the time frame I needed to apply for my application with the state," Lipton said. "It's one thing for a mayor to support you and a town economic development office. But when it comes down to a planning and zoning hearing and you're dealing with different commissioners, they might feel differently about it." And while Brannelly is excited about the prospect of a medical marijuana farm in her district, two City Council colleagues from the North End -- Michelle Lyons and AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia -- oppose Schulten's dispensary. If Fairfield rejected proposals and Shelton enacted a moratorium, Lyons said, why should Bridgeport be any different?
"Why is it everything, we have to have it here in Bridgeport?" Lyons asked. Vizzo-Paniccia agreed. "I do not want it in my district or city," she said, adding that Bridgeport should adopt its own moratorium -- "a long, permanent one." "It's about morals, not small revenue or getting votes," Vizzo-Paniccia said. "Bridgeport needs and deserves better." During a stop in Bridgeport last week on an unrelated matter, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said medical marijuana will be grown and distributed under tight security.
"But I think people have a right to hear that, know it, and if they decide they don't want it in their community, to make that decision," Malloy said. He also said that once some sites are up and running, opponents may have a change of heart. "I absolutely feel that that's the case," Malloy said. "Some people are getting it. More people will get it as time goes on."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Ctpost.com
Author: Brian Lockhart
Contact: Contact Us - Connecticut Post
Website: City offers hand to budding medical pot business - Connecticut Post
While neighboring communities and other municipalities across the state have erected roadblocks to keep the new medical marijuana industry out -- or at least, at bay -- Bridgeport has been more welcoming. And no, the industrial smoke plumes that once identified the city as a manufacturing hub aren't about to be replaced anytime soon by a marijuana haze. But by virtue of not pursuing moratoriums or crafting tougher zoning rules, Mayor Bill Finch's administration has shown a willingness to welcome the grow houses and dispensaries allowed by a 2012 state law.
"We definitely have not contemplated a moratorium," said David Kooris, hired last year as the city's head of economic development. "We have a commitment to meet the needs of our population." Instead, Kooris said, the administration has steered proposed projects to what the city considers the most appropriate locations. Farms like Palmieri's are planned for more industrial neighborhoods, with vacant buildings that the city has already promoted as ideal for urban agriculture. "As for the dispensaries, we've tried to steer folks towards the hospital areas, commercial corridors, medical office districts," Kooris said. "Places where you already have patients coming in and out."
On Monday, the Planning and Zoning Commission will consider an application by Robert Schulten and his Nutmeg Dispensary to open a marijuana dispensary in a North End office building at 4750 Main St. This is Schulten's second attempt to get his application approved. In November 2012, zoning commissioners shot down his proposal for a farm in an old East Side warehouse at 50 Hastings St. For some zoning commissioners, the reality of medical marijuana was still new, if not nebulous. They questioned the security and wondered how Schulten would prevent employee theft of the crops. Zoning Commission Chairman Mel Reilly joked if the warehouse caught fire, crowds would be "gathering around and inhaling."
Schulten, who last year said he wasn't going out of his way to draw attention to the proposal, did not respond to requests for comment about his new dispensary plan. Brannelly said she supports Palmieri because he is a proven local businessman who co-founded Connecticut Tank Removal, also located at Burr Court. "(They) really have a real solid, clean, well-kept operation," Brannelly said. Even so, Palmieri said, he worked hard to make city leaders comfortable with the idea of a marijuana farm, from Kooris and Finch's chief of staff Adam Wood to fire and police officials.
"This is the first wave. It's almost like after Prohibition with the bars opening up," Palmieri said. "For every one (person) that understands it, there are two that don't. And they have a heightened level of sensitivity because, for years, it's been harped on as being so bad." Palmieri is currently growing tomatoes at Burr Court as he awaits state approval. With Palmieri, Schulten and others competing for an extremely limited number of state licenses -- three for producers and three to five for dispensaries -- having local zoning approvals in hand is key. "We won't issue a license without local zoning compliance," said William Rubenstein, commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which accepted nearly two dozen applications for dispensary licenses and another 16 for growing farms earlier this month.
Kooris said some of the applicants rebuffed by other towns are looking at Bridgeport as a possible site to do business. But, Kooris cautioned, although the Finch administration is not against medical marijuana, each proposal must be vetted by the planning and zoning process. In the end, that's what matters most, said David Lipton, president of Connecticut Wellness Centers LLC of Fairfield. Lipton's proposal for a dispensary in Fairfield was rejected by town officials. He's now pursuing dispensaries in Hartford and New Haven counties. He has also considered Bridgeport.
"But I did not feel I would be able to get a positive outcome in the time frame I needed to apply for my application with the state," Lipton said. "It's one thing for a mayor to support you and a town economic development office. But when it comes down to a planning and zoning hearing and you're dealing with different commissioners, they might feel differently about it." And while Brannelly is excited about the prospect of a medical marijuana farm in her district, two City Council colleagues from the North End -- Michelle Lyons and AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia -- oppose Schulten's dispensary. If Fairfield rejected proposals and Shelton enacted a moratorium, Lyons said, why should Bridgeport be any different?
"Why is it everything, we have to have it here in Bridgeport?" Lyons asked. Vizzo-Paniccia agreed. "I do not want it in my district or city," she said, adding that Bridgeport should adopt its own moratorium -- "a long, permanent one." "It's about morals, not small revenue or getting votes," Vizzo-Paniccia said. "Bridgeport needs and deserves better." During a stop in Bridgeport last week on an unrelated matter, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said medical marijuana will be grown and distributed under tight security.
"But I think people have a right to hear that, know it, and if they decide they don't want it in their community, to make that decision," Malloy said. He also said that once some sites are up and running, opponents may have a change of heart. "I absolutely feel that that's the case," Malloy said. "Some people are getting it. More people will get it as time goes on."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Ctpost.com
Author: Brian Lockhart
Contact: Contact Us - Connecticut Post
Website: City offers hand to budding medical pot business - Connecticut Post
