Milford Tackles Medical Marijuana

City officials are mulling over the state’s new medical marijuana law and debating whether to draft new zoning regulations for prospective dispensers looking to set up shop in Milford.

“The growing facilities, we have certain zones that reach the definition,” City Planner David Sulkis said at a Planning and Zoning Board meeting last month. “But dispensaries have a unique use not spelled out in our books.”

Sulkis clarified his point in an interview this week, saying that growers (also called producers) are probably covered under certain industrial zones, which are approved for that type of agriculture, but that there’s nothing specific in local zoning laws for marijuana dispensaries.

Two options

Basically, the city can do one of two things, Sulkis said. It can draw up new zoning regulations that are exclusive to medical marijuana dispensaries or do nothing and have applicants apply for zoning approval via a special exception permit.

Sulkis noted that the second option would give the board “a lot of leeway” in determining whether a location is suitable for its proposed use. This way, dispensary applications would be handled more on a case-by-case basis.

City Attorney Jonathan Berchem agreed that the board would have more discretion if an applicant had to go the special exception route. The “harmony and nature of the neighborhood” could then be discussed to a greater extent, he said.

Berchem said both growers and dispensers require local zoning approval.

While other Connecticut municipalities have pushed moratoriums on accepting applications to as long as a year, Milford's board opted for a two-month embargo, which expires Feb. 27.

1,343 patients

The state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) says it plans to award three grower licenses and three to five dispenser licenses in the first round of applications.

That round closed Nov. 15 with 16 producers and 27 dispensers petitioning for certification. At least some of those licenses are expected to be issued in January, WNPR reports.

There are 1,343 registered medical marijuana patients in Connecticut; the majority in New Haven County (408), Fairfield County (337) and Hartford County (257), according to the DCP.

Sulkis said the state intends to spread out the approved growers and dispensers across Connecticut.

In order to be eligible for medical marijuana, the DCP says a Connecticut-licensed doctor must diagnose a patient with a “debilitating medical condition” that is identified in the law, though others can be added.

The conditions include cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, and others.

Trusting the state

Berchem, the city attorney, called the state law “highly regulated.” But others have their doubts.

While two of his zoning colleagues argued against any length of a moratorium at the December meeting, then-Board Chairman Mark Bender said he had some skepticism about the new state law.

Bender’s comments came as the board was also contemplating a development on Pond Point Avenue that was proposed under the oft-controversial affordable housing state statute 8-30g.

Over the span of a month, hundreds of residents converged at public hearings to protest the development, which the board eventually rejected.

“I look at it,” he said of the new medical marijuana law. “I don’t trust the state.”