Norwich ― On Nov 19, 2021, Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom stood in front of a packed room of more than 100 cannabis industry representatives and declared that his city was open for business.

Unlike many surrounding towns that quickly enacted moratoriums on cannabis businesses on the eve of the state’s legalization of adult-use recreational marijuana, Norwich officials did the opposite.

City officials wrote “very permissive” cannabis zoning regulations, as Director of Planning Deanna Rhodes termed it, and spread the word that Norwich would welcome cannabis development.

Last Tuesday, the Commission on the City Plan unanimously approved plans for two new cannabis cultivators and one edible products manufacturer. Norwich has one hybrid medicinal and adult-use recreational cannabis retail dispensary at 606 W. Main St. and an indoor cannabis cultivator is under construction in a former industrial building on Eighth Street.

And at least two more cannabis cultivators are expected to submit plans soon, city Planner Dan Daniska said.

Jerry Farrel, president of Quinnipiac Valley Growth Partners, the cultivation company approved for a greenhouse operation on the site of the Malerba golf driving range and Millie’s Ice Cream Shop on New London Turnpike, summed up why Norwich’s effort to attract cannabis businesses has been successful.

First, he said, Norwich is “very welcoming” to the cannabis business community. Second, the city has “well developed zoning regulations.” And third, the low electric rates charged by Norwich Public Utilities.

Quinnipiac is based in Wallingford, which also has a municipally owned utility. Farrell called it “an absolute positive” to deal with a municipally owned utility.

“Norwich is both welcoming and clear-cut,” Farrell said. “If you’re shopping, which every company is, finding a city that is clear-cut and welcoming is something that is attractive.”

Brian Essenter, CEO of Connecticut Cannabis Co, which received approval Tuesday to manufacture gummies using cannabis oil at 40R Franklin St., said his Norwalk-based company shopped western Connecticut extensively and found nothing but roadblocks.

He talked with other industry colleagues who recommended he try Norwich. The company faced a state licensing deadline of Feb. 14 to be ready to operate and needed to find a site.

“That was the big deal, finding a space in a municipality that was open to cannabis,” Essenter said.

Norwich had exactly those assets cited by Farrell and Essenter in mind when the city launched its cannabis marketing campaign in 2021. In return, Norwich looks forward to added tax revenue, top-tier utility usage and potentially hundreds of stable manufacturing and entrepreneurial jobs.

Quinnipiac Valley Growth Partners projected its Norwich greenhouse cultivation operation would bring 30 to 40 daytime jobs and another eight to 10 night-shift positions.

Mayor Nystrom, a former state representative, told that first gathering that he probably would have voted against legalizing marijuana as a legislator, but with Connecticut joining a growing number of states approving recreational cannabis, he relented.

“The writing is on the wall,” Nystrom said last week. “Even Congress is going to take action sooner or later on (legalizing recreational cannabis). In essence, that gives our city a leg up on everyone.”

Nystrom said he prefers attracting cannabis cultivators and product manufacturing facilities to the city, as those would generate the most tax and utility revenue.

He said the cannabis-infused gummies edibles manufacturing company approved last week for the vacant rear area in the Foundry 66 complex on Franklin Street is a good fit for that space. The business will have no retail component.

How the city did it

When it became clear the state legislature planned to legalize cannabis, Norwich planning officials, Norwich Community Development Corp. officials, Norwich Public Utilities leaders and city staff all met to devise plans to attract the fledgling industry to the city.

The city wrote permissive, straightforward zoning regulations, Rhodes said, treating cannabis production as manufacturing and retail entities similar to liquor stores ― with separation distances required from schools, playgrounds and each other.

It also used the same team approach when working with applicants.

Rhodes spoke at several workshops and seminars hosted by the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, a collection of dozens of licensed cannabis businesses and ancillary service providers, such as attorneys and insurance executives.

In December 2022, Rhodes received a plaque as Cannabis Chamber of Commerce Municipal Leader of the Year, recognizing her “leadership and advocacy to legalize and destigmatize the misconception of cannabis.”

The plaque hangs in the city planning office.

NCDC President Kevin Brown traveled the state and beyond, setting up informational tables at cannabis industry trade shows and seminars. Norwich hosted the first such event in the state on that day in November 2021.

Most times, Brown said, Norwich was the only municipality participating in those events.

State siting regulations initially gave incentives to cannabis cultivators to locate in U.S. Census tracts deemed disproportionately impacted by past aggressive law enforcement against drug crimes. But those eligible tracts had carved the city into geographical areas too small to attract major cultivation businesses.

Brown joined with cannabis business entities in a successful lobbying effort to change the regulation so that if a city has at least one qualifying Census tract, the entire city could receive the cannabis business siting incentives. That opened the door for cannabis cultivators to look at sites across Norwich, including in the new Occum Industrial Center, Brown said.

“It’s an industry like any other industry, and that’s how we approached it,” Brown said. “And we have a lot of attractions ― NPU, a team approach to this thing ― that have facilitated these things coming to Norwich.”

Several years ago, the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners created an economic development committee. That group examined how NPU could attract utilities-hungry cannabis businesses to bring more utility revenue to the city, 10% of which is turned over to the city to offset taxes.

NPU’s electric rates are 20% to 25% lower than investor-owned utilities, such as Eversource. NPU also created a commercial discount rate for the top tier electric users that gives a 12% initial discount, decreasing in subsequent years of operation.

NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said greenhouse and indoor cannabis cultivators are huge consumers of electricity needing strategically controlled lighting, heat and ventilation. No specific power consumption figures were available, but LaRose estimated that the largest cultivators could consume 1-2 megawatts of power, placing them in the top tier of electricity users.

“It’s a great opportunity for the ratepayers to have additional growth, and 10% of that is given back to the city,” LaRose said. “As well as additional tax revenues generated.”

Not everyone’s happy about it

Former Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick, a frequent critic of city government, strongly objected to Norwich welcoming the cannabis industry.

“Do we want to change our name from the Rose City to the weed city?” Philbrick said at last Monday’s City Council meeting.

She said driving with windows open downtown, she “almost got an instant high from the marijuana fumes in the air.”

“These may be somebody’s vision and somebody’s dream, but they’re not mine,” Philbrick told the council.

Preston dairy farmer and Selectman Jerry Grabarek, whose farm is two properties over from an outdoor-grow cannabis cultivator approved at 105 Stonington Road-Route 2 at the Norwich-Preston line, was shocked that he was the only public speaker at the three public hearings at the Norwich planning commission Tuesday.

Grabarek raised several concerns specific to the Route 2 proposal in relation to his farm and added that Norwich seems desperate for the tax money to be generated by cannabis operations.

Grabarek relayed to the commission that the first selectman of Morris told him the smell during the three weeks of blooming at a large outdoor-grow facility in that town was like “20 skunks squashed on your street in front of your house.”

“I will always worry about the impacts of marijuana,” Norwich Mayor Nystrom said Wednesday, adding that he would not favor a cannabis retail outlet downtown. Strict state manufacturing regulations ensure that legalized cannabis products are not laced with dangerous chemicals, such as fentanyl, as illegal street marijuana often contains.

Rhodes said Norwich initially expected to receive more applications for cannabis retail stores, but interest waned quickly after the one Zen Leaf store opened in July 2023.

NCDC President Brown said it’s difficult to overcome the negative stereotypes about the cannabis industry. The cultivators and product manufacturers approved will not be open to the public and will not sell their products at the Norwich sites, he said.

“If each company produces 25 jobs, that’s 125 jobs this industry will have brought to the City of Norwich,” Brown said. “If a defense contractor came and brought 125 jobs, everyone would be ecstatic and jumping for joy. These are 125 jobs in an industry coming to the city.”

c.bessette@theday.com