#Middlebury #Childcare #Cannabis
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
Middlebury’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) will hold two public hearings at its Thursday, November 4, meeting at 7 p.m. in Room 26 at Shepardson Community Center at 1172 Whittemore Road in Middlebury. One hearing will be for a special exception for a proposed new childcare center and nursery; the other will be for a zoning text amendment to impose a temporary moratorium on cannabis establishments in Middlebury.
The new childcare center, a Bright & Early children’s learning center, would be the seventh center opened by the company. It already has centers in Middletown, New Milford, Niantic, North Branford, Old Saybrook and West Hartford. It is a North Branford company, and its website is brightandearly.com.
President April Lukasik, in an informal presentation at the September 2 P&Z meeting, said she would like to open the center at 489 Middlebury Road, the plaza perhaps best known for its Dunkin’ Donuts. It would be at the back of the building on the lower level.
She said she would obtain a long term lease on 12,000 square feet on the lower level, where she would attach a playground to the building so children wouldn’t have to walk through the parking lot to get to it. That would affect the number of parking spaces, but Lukasik said her business would be the only one that needed parking spaces, and that 40 spaces would be left. At her other centers, 30 to 40 spaces have been enough to accommodate her employees plus drop-offs and pick-ups.
Lukasik said she expects the center would serve between 120 to 130 children. She said her other centers serve between 100 and 156 children. Drop-off would be 6:30 to 9 a.m. and pick up would be by 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Lukasik said in a telephone interview on October 26 that she believes there is a need for additional childcare options in Middlebury. She said her New Milford center opened during the pandemic and quickly filled up. See brightandearly.com
The cannabis hearing comes after several months of consideration of Connecticut’s new cannabis law, Public Act No. 21-1. Planning Consultant Hiram Peck presented a list of the act’s highlights at the August 5, 2021 meeting. He said P&Z could either exercise a control or simply let the act go forward. They could pass zoning regulations prohibiting the sale of recreational cannabis entirely or limit the hours, location and signage. He said retail sales are expected to begin in mid-2022, and the maximum number of retail sales locations allowed in Middlebury would be one because the act says one location per 25,000 people.
P&Z Chairman Terry Smith said commission members do not want a retail cannabis establishment in town, and he asked Peck to provide a regulation. At the October 7 P&Z meeting, Smith asked town attorney Dana D’Angelo to put together a proposed text amendment to have in place until Peck finishes updating the town’s zoning regulations. That amendment is the subject of the November 4 hearing.
The proposed amendment establishes a temporary moratorium on accepting applications or using land or structures for a cannabis establishment. It would remain in effect for six months from the time of adoption or until P&Z adopts zoning regulation amendments.
The amendment states it is meant to provide P&Z with the time necessary to consider adoption of regulations in response to Public Act 21-1. It also notes that, if a municipality does not amend its regulations to address cannabis, cannabis establishments will be deemed a permitted use in zoning districts where retail and commercial establishments are permitted.
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