Stamford Zoning Board Meeting - May 21, 2024: Public Hearing on Nautilus Cannabis Dispensary and Other Agenda Items
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Stamford Zoning Board Meeting – May 21, 2024
The Stamford Zoning Board convened on May 21, 2024, to hear public comments and deliberate on a special permit and CAM application for a cannabis dispensary proposed by Nautilus (Marita Capital) at 1290 East Main Street. The meeting also addressed several routine CAM applications, a text change proposal, extensions of time, and a BMR regulation withdrawal. Over a dozen residents from Stamford and Darien spoke in opposition to the dispensary, citing safety, traffic, neighborhood character, and flooding concerns. The board closed the public hearing on the Nautilus application but left it open to receive additional materials from the applicant. Later, the board voted on a separate cannabis application (Butter) but failed to reach a majority on either a denial or approval motion.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The minutes from May 6, 2024, and May 9, 2024 (site visit) were approved unanimously (5-0).
- CAM Applications: Three Coastal Area Management (CAM) applications were approved unanimously (5-0) subject to conditions from referral agencies:
- CSPR 1185 – 29 Waterbury Avenue: Second and third floor addition.
- CSPR 1192 – 20 Chesterfield Road: Second story, garage, addition, interior renovations.
- CSPR 1195 – 40 Ocean Drive East: Partial 2.5-story addition.
Public Comments & Testimony
Over 15 residents spoke, all opposing the Nautilus dispensary. Key points:
- Traffic & Safety: Multiple speakers noted dangerous traffic on Post Road, recent accidents (e.g., May 17th involving multiple cars), and the narrow driveway of the site. They argued the applicant’s traffic study was flawed (conducted during school break, cherry-picked data).
- Proximity to Residential Areas: Speakers stressed the site abuts residential zones in Stamford and Darien, with children walking to bus stops, playing nearby, and attending Hindley School (1.1 miles away) and the YMCA (0.5 miles away).
- Neighborhood Character: Residents described the location as a family neighborhood with parks (Gurley Park), churches, and a community gathering spot (Giovanni’s). They argued the dispensary would lower property values, increase crime, and create loitering/consumption issues.
- Flooding & Environmental Concerns: Several speakers noted the site lies in a floodway, and the applicant’s flood mitigation claims were disputed (e.g., air handlers below flood level). A drainage study submitted one day before the hearing was criticized.
- Applicant Credibility: Speakers alleged misleading statements by the applicant, including backdated photos showing summer greenery, a dissolved LLC reinstated only in April, and incomplete traffic data.
- Legal Arguments: Attorney Joel Green (representing a neighboring property owner) urged the board to hold the hearing open for public comment on new materials. He argued the special permit criteria were not met.
- Petition: Kristen Nayardi stated she gathered nearly 1,000 signatures in Darien opposing the dispensary.
Discussion Items
- Nautilus Application (224-16): After public comments, the applicant’s attorney (Brayman) and representative (Connie Bulver) responded: they noted compliance with state security requirements, offered to reconfigure the entrance to address driveway width concerns, and submitted additional data (transaction data from other states, a Stamford Advocate article). The board closed the hearing but left it open for submission of those materials and allowed a possible condition of approval for the entrance change.
- Butter Cannabis Application (224-346): The board discussed whether the Boys & Girls Club (Yerwood Center) qualifies as a “school” under zoning regulations. Member Jerry recused himself. The board voted on a motion to deny (based on school proximity) – 2 in favor, 2 opposed, motion failed. A motion to approve also failed 2-2. Staff will consult legal counsel on next steps.
- Text Change Application (227-04): A proposal to consolidate and reorder zoning sections. The planning board had recommended approval. The item was continued to the next meeting.
- Other Applications: Extensions of time for 122-124 Broad Street (TR Broad LLC) and Landmark Three Building (Landmark Square) were granted unanimously (5-0). The BMR regulation amendment (224-13) was withdrawn to allow refiling with changes.
Key Outcomes
- Nautilus Dispensary: Public hearing closed; board will accept additional materials from applicant (transaction data, Stamford Advocate article) and consider a condition regarding the driveway entrance. A decision is expected at a future meeting.
- Butter Cannabis: Motion to deny failed 2-2; motion to approve failed 2-2. Application not resolved; staff to seek legal guidance.
- CAM Applications: All three approved 5-0 with conditions.
- Minutes: Approved 5-0.
- Extensions: Granted 5-0 for Broad Street (extension to June 2, 2025) and Landmark Square (extension to July 25, 2025).
- BMR Regulations: Withdrawn 5-0 to be refiled; will return after 35-day referral period.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for June 10, 2024.
Meeting Transcript
There are people already that's using our area, our our um property to cross to go to 95. There's illegal dumping in our back. Can you imagine if you have to put a dispensary? If I looked out of my window right now in my bedroom, I could see the boat yard. So you are telling me that you're gonna put this safety for medical and recreational use. Absolutely not, because this is just going to be a recreational use. My children are seven and eight years old, they go to Hindley. We are actually proposing to have a bus stop in our brookside neighborhood. Because again, our children has to walk up high on this hill. Now, if there's a bus stop, you know how many bus stops is needed here. That means the safety of our children comes first. I don't care about the tax. I don't care about anything else. My properties, our property area is gonna go down, the value is gonna go down, the safety of this neighborhood is gonna go down. We didn't move here for nothing. Thank you. That's all I'm just gonna tell you. The neurons of the people that's gonna be around here is just gonna go down as well. Good. Thank you. Next, we have the one and shoe. All right. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. All right. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and all the board members. Um, I see you're all tired, but we we are too, but we're still up here because there's serious concern here. First, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak out tonight. My name is Larry. Larry. I live on 15 Brookside Drive, Darien, which is about one minute's walk away from the proposed location in this application. So my family, my wife and I are strongly opposed this application because of the safety and traffic concern. Um from all the hearing you can see, we cannot emphasize more in this hearing and the last hearing. So that's uh I know you have your own um law. Um so I would read it on paper. So the decision of this special permission not only rely on the buffering zoom, but also the nature of the proposed use in relation to the site and the surrounding area and should not injure it to the neighborhood, should be harmony to the general purpose of this neighborhood. So as you hear from all the people living the in the neighborhood, the location is in the permit zone, but almost all closed surrounding area are the residential areas. And clearly uh you can see in the map. So the nature of these speaks out. Uh so most of the people um against this is strongly opposed to this application. And uh, as a parent, uh I'm sure uh you as uh grandparents or parents. I I'm a father of six-year-old boy. My son works between school bus and home most of the days, and same as other eight or more kids uh live on the Brookside Drive. So um, so um there's already traffic mistakenly drives through the uh street trying to get onto the ramp on the 95. So opening this uh dispensary will add up more traffic to the street and will cause uh cost on the post road. So that's a significant safety concern in our neighborhood where the kids can run uh walk and bike on the street. So uh this will put our children in danger, high risk of incident and uh accidents. And also you have 30 seconds.
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