The West Hartford Town Council has scheduled a public hearing to consider revisions to its ordinance regulating the sale and production of adult use cannabis.

By Ronni Newton

The West Hartford Town Council adopted a zoning ordinance in May 2022, permitting the sale and cultivation of adult-use cannabis in town subject to certain regulations, and plans to vote on updates to that ordinance this spring.

The zoning regulations adopted by the Town Council in 2022 were temporary, and will expire as of June 30, 2024. Proposed updates, which were discussed last week during a meeting of the Council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee, include modifying the number of retailers permitted in town as well to the buffer between retailers, buffer from certain municipal properties, and changes to the zones where retailers can operate.

When Public Act No. 21-1, An Act Concerning Responsible and Equitable Regulation of Adult-Use Cannabis (RERECA), was first signed into law in July 2021, there was a cap on the number of licenses that would have been awarded to a particular municipality at one retailer and one producer each per 25,000 of population, through June 30. 2024. Midway through the May 24, 2022 Town Council meeting, while the ordinance was being considered, Gov. Ned Lamont signed PA-22-103, a bill passed by the legislature as HB 5329, which eliminated the restriction of the number of licenses based on population.

The initial interpretation of PA 21-1 was that West Hartford, with a population of roughly 64,000, would have been allowed three of each type of license, but further clarification indicated that the town would have only been permitted two of each type of establishment. Although the state removed the restriction, after discussion the ordinance approved by the Town Council that night included a cap of two retail establishments and two producers each in West Hartford, mandated a 500-foot buffer from schools, public parks, municipal recreation facilities, and libraries, and designated certain zones where retailers could be located and separate zones where production facilities could be located.

The proposed update to the ordinance now being considered by the Town Council will allow up to three cannabis retailers to be located in West Hartford, but will require that “No cannabis retail establishment shall be permitted on a site that is within 5,000 feet of another cannabis retail establishment. Said distance requirement shall be measured by taking the nearest straight line between the respective lot boundaries of said sites.”

Town Manager Rick Ledwith said the addition of a buffer between future establishments was based on feedback from the Town Council.

Over the past year, two adult use cannabis retailers have opened in West Hartford – Budr and Sweetspot – and they are within a quarter-mile of each other. Budr, which opened in July 2023, is located at 1137 Boulevard (at the corner of Prospect Avenue) and Sweetspot, which opened in February 2024, is at the corner of Park Road and Prospect Avenue. If another retailer would look to open in town, at a minimum it would have to be just about a mile away from either of the existing retailers.

The proposed update also modifies the measurement of the 500-foot buffer from schools, public parks, municipal recreation facilities, and libraries with wording that is identical to the town’s ordinance that pertains to liquor stores.

The other proposed changes to the ordinance also provides a further restriction of zones where cannabis retailers (including medical dispensaries and hybrid retailers) can be located, limiting the operation to zones BN, BG, and BS zones.

The proposed updated ordinance, which can be found as a PDF below, will be the subject of a public hearing on May 14, 2024, beginning at 7 p.m. in Room 314 of West Hartford Town Hall.

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