The Zoning Board of the City of Stamford met on May 6, 2025, at 6:35 PM via Zoom. Chair David Stein presided over roll call, public hearings, and discussions on three main applications: a lawsuit executive session, a general development plan for converting an office building to residential units, and a proposed University and Research Overlay District (UROD) text and map change. The meeting was recorded and posted online.
With three percent. Oh my god. We can get started, David. Okay. I'd like to welcome everyone and call tonight zoning board meeting to order. I'm David Stein, chair of the zoning board, and it is 635 on May 5th, 2025. The members of the board and the staff are holding this meeting by Zoom Video Conference. The public is in attendance both on video conference and by teleconference. I'd first like to do a roll call of the board and the staff. Bill Morris? Here. And now for the staff, Ralph Blessing. Okay. Um the board's microphones will be open throughout tonight's meeting. The applicant's mics will be open during the public hearing for their application. However, we would ask applicants to please mute their 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. If you came in through Zoom, please use the raise your hand function and you will be unmuted when it is your turn to speak. If you called in on one of the telephone conference call phone numbers, please press star nine, and this will raise your hand. And then press star six to unmute when you are called on to speak. When members of the public speak, please give us your name and address for the record, and whether you are in favor of 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. And this uh limit is enforced by Benita. So it's pretty strict. Uh if you have a problem getting in, for some reason you can't uh we can't hear you or you some other issue with trying to speak, please send an email to Vanita um at her city email address. That's V M A T H U R V Montor at Stanford C T dot gov, and she'll try to figure out why you can't get on. Um tonight's meeting is being recorded and it'll be posted on the zoning board's website. And you can find the agenda for tonight's meeting and the meeting applications and other materials by going to our website www.stanford ct.gov slash zoning. Um the first item that we have on tonight's agenda uh is under updates and discussions, and it says discussion regarding pending litigation in the matter of butter holding five, LLC, doing business as butter cannabis versus zoning board of the city of Stanford, uh application two two three-four six potential executive session. And this matter is the lawsuit against the zoning board by um butter cannabis, which was a cannabis dispensary that um the zoning board um denied their application to open a dispensary. Um can I get a motion, please, to go into executive session? So moved. Second. Okay. Um all in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. We're going into executive session. Um, for everyone who is on here, um, we're gonna exit for a little while, go into executive session, and we will be back. Uh this shouldn't take too long. Um, but don't leave. We will return. So uh zoning board, we're gonna leave you. Sorry to keep you. I um I logged in to a different Zoom meeting on my calendar as well. Was anybody there? Was it more fun? You dealt with special permits. Oh, there you go.