New Milford votes to extend ban on Recreational Cannabis sales for another year: ‘A major decision’
New Milford Extends Moratorium on Recreational Cannabis Sales, Citing Need for Further Understanding.
In voting to extend a moratorium, the Town Council agreed that New Milford has “a lot to learn” before it can allow recreational cannabis sales in town.
We just want to get a handle on this because it’s a major decision,” Mayor Pete Bass said in an interview with Hearst Media Connecticut on the sale of recreational cannabis, which became legal in Connecticut on July 1, 2021, and began in the state on Jan. 10, 2023.
In a unanimous vote, the Town Council voted to extend New Milford's temporary moratorium on recreational cannabis sales for another year at its Feb. 26 meeting. The moratorium was imposed in January 2023 to gain more time to better understand Connecticut’s legislation for recreational cannabis sales and its impact on towns.
The Town Council’s initial vote to impose the moratorium in 2023 came the day before legal recreational cannabis sales began in the state.
Town Council members decided at the council’s Feb. 26 meeting to revisit the issue in another year.
The town will look at other towns that have allowed recreational cannabis sales in their communities, Bass said. Danbury, Newington, New Haven, Stamford and Meriden are among the Connecticut towns with recreational cannabis dispensaries.
“They just wanted to take a wait to see as the industry matures how other towns are handling it,” Bass said.
New Milford will also look at data on cannabis retail establishments, traffic generated by the dispensaries, crime created by the dispensaries' presence and other issues towns might face by allowing recreational cannabis dispensaries, he said.
While recreational cannabis sales are banned in New Milford, medical cannabis sales are exempt from the moratorium as long as they comply with the town’s zoning regulations. Medical cannabis dispensaries have been permitted as an accepted use to New Milford’s general business zone since 2016.
