Okay, we can get started David.

Okay.

I'd like to welcome everyone and call tonight's zoning board meeting to order.

I'm David Stein, Chair of the Zoning Board, and it is 6 30 on April 24th, 2023.

The members of the zoning board and the staff are holding this meeting by Zoom video conference.

The public is in attendance both by video conference and teleconference.

First, I'd like to call a role of the board and the staff.

Bill Morris.

Here.

Roseanne McManus.

Here.

Jerry Bozak.

Here.

Or Kel Smith Anderson.

Here.

Now for the staff, Ralph Blessing.

Vanita Matter.

Here.

Okay.

We have a full compliment.

During tonight's meeting, the microphones for the board will be on throughout the meeting.

Applicants' mics will be open during the public hearing for their application.

However, I would ask the applicant to please mute your mics when not speaking in order to reduce background noise.

The first part of tonight's meeting is the public hearing during which the public will have an opportunity to speak.

Each member of the public will be muted until it is your turn to speak.

Here's the procedure for the public to let us know that you would like to speak.

If you came in through Zoom, please use the raise your hand function and you will be unmuted when it's your turn to speak.

If you called in on one of the telephone conference call phone numbers, press star nine and this will raise your hand.

Then press star six to unmute when it's your turn to speak.

When members of the public speech, please give us your name and address for the record and whether you're in favor or opposed to the application.

The board requests that members of the public limit your comments to three minutes so that everyone will have a chance to speak.

Tonight's meeting will be recorded and posted on the zoning board's website.

And you can find tonight's agenda for this meeting and the application materials by going to our website at www.stamford ct.gov slash zoning.

But a couple of uh housekeeping things first.

Um we are seating uh Roquel Smith Anderson as voting member at tonight's meeting.

Uh next, the um there's a pre-application conference scheduled uh for um a piece of property which is next to Curley's.

There is uh it's the last item on tonight's agenda.

Um we hope we will get to it, um, but uh there's a possibility that uh we will not if if everything else runs too long.

Um and um next, there's been a lot of um a lot of attention given to the cannabis issue.

Um of the items on tonight's agenda is a text change um submitted by the zoning board and staff, uh which would clean up some of the sections of the uh of the zoning regulations.

One of those items was a deletion of an introductory paragraph or medical marijuana.

Um there seems to have been some misunderstanding that this deletion somehow um meant that recreational marijuana would be um easier to um the dispensaries would be easier to establish.

That is not the case.

Um, this language was purely uh housekeeping matter.

Um however, to avoid um the uh misunderstanding, we are not going to consider that deletion tonight.

So it's being removed from the text change.

Um that language will remain as the introductory paragraph for medical marijuana.

The other thing is we are not taking up tonight the um dispensary on at Bullshead.

That uh is scheduled for a couple of meetings from now.

So if there's anyone here who wants to discuss um marijuana dispensaries or that one in particular, we will not be um hearing it tonight.

So um please save your comments on that for um a couple of meetings from now when we will be talking about the uh dispensary.

So just to be clear, tonight's checks changed.

Um we are not changing the marijuana medical marijuana dispensary language that will stay as is.

Um we are not hearing the high ridge um bull's head dispensary application.

Ralph, is there anything you want to add to that or uh that cover it?

No, thank you for clarifying.

Um I just wanted to mention that um if you want to receive uh the agendas of the zoning board uh for future meetings, um, you can sign up to receive them by email.

Uh that email address uh is um T Briscoe B-R-I S C O E Stamford C T dot G-O-V.

So if you um send an email to Miss Briscoe, she can add you to um the mailing list for um zoning board agendas.

So you will get the agenda um in advance of um the the next meetings and um you can see what's on the agenda.