Towns consider cannabis options

Rebelle Dispensary is one of several cannabis outlets in Great Barrington.
Photo by Terry Cowgill
This is the second in a series on the legalization of cannabis in Connecticut.
NORTH CANAAN — As towns across the Northwest Corner have struggled to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic and change the way they do business, they can add another major challenge: how to handle private business interests that want to enter the retail cannabis sector or grow it for the wholesale market.
Connecticut legalized adult-use marijuana sales last year, and the state has put in place some guideposts and incentives with potential revenue streams that could be game-changers for cash-strapped towns.
Municipalities are free to regulate cannabis businesses — medical or recreational — as they would just about any other businesses. According to an analysis by the nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Research, towns may prohibit them from opening, reasonably restrict their hours and signage, restrict their proximity to religious institutions, schools, charitable institutions, hospitals, veterans’ homes or certain military establishments.
According to the Litchfield firm of Cramer & Anderson, which provides legal services to several Northwest Corner towns, a key provision of the new law stipulates that cannabis establishments must be zoned just as similar businesses would be unless municipalities regulate them through their zoning codes or ordinances.
Under Connecticut’s law, possession of 1.5 ounce of cannabis is legal. Since October 2021, medical marijuana patients have been able to grow up to three mature and three immature plants at home starting, with a cap of 12 total plants per household. By July 1, 2023, all adults will be able to grow at home under the same rules.
In neighboring Massachusetts, the cultivation, sale and use of recreational cannabis-related products was legalized through a 2016 ballot initiative.
Cramer & Anderson says it’s also worth noting that, unlike in the Bay State, municipalities in Connecticut that allow micro-cultivators and adult-use cannabis stores “are subject to a cap that limits operations to one retailer and one micro-cultivator for every 25,000 municipal residents until July 1, 2024.” In addition, successful applicants must obtain a special permit from the town for both retail and cultivation uses.
But we’re still in uncharted territory with implications that are controversial, and towns are scrambling to craft appropriate regulations, ban cannabis operations altogether or enact moratoriums on cannabis applications to give planning and zoning commissions time to amend zoning codes that match this challenge.
Hearst Connecticut Media conducted a survey early this year and found that, of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns, 22 have established bans on sales and cultivation, while 53 have enacted moratoriums on applications.
In Kent, retail stores are prohibited from selling recreational cannabis. In January, Sharon passed a six-month moratorium. Danbury passed a one-year moratorium last July. In Norfolk, a public hearing was held earlier this month to allow public input on several zoning proposals, one of which would regulate the retail sale of cannabis, Tom Fahsbender, chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), told The Lakeville Journal.
But perhaps the most interesting case lies in North Canaan, where the Planning & Zoning Commission held a public hearing in May on a proposed temporary moratorium on cannabis applications.
“We have a rare opportunity for revenue in North Canaan and in light of rising costs, especially education costs, we need to take a serious look at putting a dispensary here,” said former Selectman Susie Clayton.
The town’s taxpayers are frustrated over a steep increase this year of $745,000 in the town’s Region One assessment, placing what officials feel is an undue burden on Canaan.
Though by comparison North Canaan’s population is lower than Salisbury’s, it still has to pay substantially more to the regional school district because it sends more than twice as many students to Housatonic. In addition, Salisbury’s weighted voting power on the Region One Board of Education is higher because North Canaan’s population is lower.
The higher tax burden is compounded by the fact that North Canaan’s tax rate is higher because its property values are generally lower than Salisbury’s. North Canaan Selectman Craig Whiting said last fall that the Region One assessment is “bringing our town to its knees.”
Its unknown how much revenue the cannabis industry could bring to North Canaan.
Twenty minutes to the north, Great Barrington, which has about twice as many full-time residents as North Canaan, took in more than $1 million in the first six months after Theory Wellness, the town’s first recreational cannabis store, opened in January 2019 to long lines that snaked almost around the corner to the Price Chopper. Half a dozen others have since opened.
Great Barrington’s finance director said 12 months ago that since 2019, the town had taken in $6.7 million in cannabis revenue, though officials expect the numbers to decline should sales begin in Connecticut and in New York, where the state Legislature also legalized adult-use last year.
For some perspective, in 2019 Great Barrington’s annual budget was a little more than $30 million, including its assessment to fund the regional school district.
“This will never turn into Great Barrington,” North Canaan resident Ed Capowitz said at the hearing. “We’re allowed one facility. Why turn down that revenue?”
“Our tax bills are getting higher and I know that the ... selectmen are having trouble even trying to get the budget raised whatsoever because there’s just not enough money to go around,” added Ruth Adotte. “So what I’m saying is it would help with the taxes.”
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, which regulates cannabis, has laid out the taxing scheme for retail cannabis sales: the standard 6.35% sales tax levied on most retail items, a 3% sales tax dedicated to the city or town where the sale occurs, and a tax based on THC content that will cost approximately 10 to 15% of the sale price.
The state estimates the total cumulative taxes paid on cannabis purchases to be roughly 20% of the retail price.
Tim Abbott, who chairs the North Canaan P&Z, said no applications have been received yet. Weeks after the public hearing in May, the commission voted unanimously to enact an eight-month moratorium on cannabis applications to give the panel time to draw up regulations, such as which parts of town are appropriate for cannabis, hours of operation, signage and recovering costs for additional policing.
“These are the areas where we have some control,” Abbott said, who said he is neutral on whether to allow sales and cultivation of the product.
A townwide referendum on whether to allow cannabis sales and/or cultivation is tentatively slated for November. If it passes, Abbott expects the regulations should be ready for review by March 2023.
Abbott emphasized that, “Kicking the can down the road isn’t the purpose of a moratorium. It buys you time to do your due diligence, to educate yourself as a commission, to know the law, to see what it might look like in the event that the new change happens.”
The sentiment among Canaanites could spur action. Some residents at May’s public hearing objected even to a moratorium. Lyle Kloke said he thought the commission was “negligent” in not addressing the issue even sooner.
LAKEVILLE — Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother, David, died in 1979.
Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss, Rhys excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, he also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run at least 50 miles a week, until the day he died.
In 1982 after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, Rhys returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology, where he met his wife of 35 years, Rebecca (Becky) Snow. After two years of teaching, he worked at a research field site in Borneo, then went on to the University of California, Davis where he earned a PhD in Animal Behavior in 1995.
Rather than follow an academic tenure track, Rhys preferred the solitary focus of field ornithology, and he spent several decades researching the ecology of bird species in California and on Cape Cod and the Islands. Rhys believed passionately in supporting biodiversity through habitat preservation. His proudest achievements, therefore, came through his work for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, in New Hampshire, where he served on committees and the Board of Trustees for twenty years, including three years as Chair.
Deeply intellectual and curious, Rhys learned Homeric Greek so he could read The Odyssey and The Iliad in their original language. An amateur Melville scholar, he would wax poetic about reading Moby-Dick for the umpteenth time.Rhys’s spirit was filled by the performing arts. Concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Early Music Festival often brought tears to his eyes, while Boston Bluegrass Union shows delivered toe-tapping fidgetiness.
Rhys will be missed by his wife, Becky Snow, his mother, Anne Bowen, extended family, friends, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
A service will be held at The Hotchkiss School chapel on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 at 1 p.m..
In honor of Rhys’s memory, donations can be made to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.
LAKEVILLE — Kelsey K. Horton, 43, a lifelong area resident, died peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, following a courageous battle with cancer. Kelsey worked as a certified nursing assistant and administrative assistant at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, from 1999 until 2024, where she was a very respected and loved member of their nursing and administrative staff.
Born Oct. 4, 1981, in Sharon, she was the daughter of W. Craig Kellogg of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and JoAnne (Lukens) Tuncy and her husband Donald of Millerton, New York. Kelsey graduated with the class of 1999 from Webutuck High School in Amenia and from BOCES in 1999 with a certificate from the CNA program as well. She was a longtime member of the Lakeville United Methodist Church in Lakeville. On Oct. 11, 2003, in Poughkeepsie, New York, she married James Horton. Jimmy survives at home in Lakeville. Kelsey loved camping every summer at Waubeeka Family Campground in Copake, and she volunteered as a cheer coach for A.R.C. Cheerleading for many years. Kelsey also enjoyed hiking and gardening in her spare time and spending time with her loving family and many dear friends.
In addition to her husband and parents, Kelsey is survived by her two beloved children, Hunter Horton and Aryanna Horton, both of Lakeville; a step-brother, Jason Tuncy of East Hartford, Connecticut; her mother-in-law, Frances “Fran” Horton and her brother-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton III and his wife Penny of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and their son, Alec, and several aunts, uncles, cousins and many dear friends. She was predeceased by her father-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton, Jr. in 2017.
There are no calling hours. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Millerton American Legion Post # 178, Route 44, Millerton, NY 12546. A time to celebrate Kelsey and share stories and memories. Memorial contributions may be made to The Jane Lloyd Fund. Please make checks payable to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (please note in memo line, The Jane Lloyd Fund) and mail to: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 800 N. Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257.
To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Kelsey’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
SHARON — On Sept. 27, Eliot Warren Brown was shot and killed at age 47 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a random act of violence by a young man in need of mental health services. Eliot was born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Indian Mountain School and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his wife Brooke moved to New Orleans to answer the call for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and fell in love with the city.
In addition to his wife Brooke, Eliot leaves behind his parents Malcolm and Louise Brown, his sisters Lucia (Thaddeus) and Carla (Ruairi), three nephews, and extended family and friends spread far and wide.
Normally at this point one might list some interests, but in Eliot’s case, it’s easier to list what he wasn’t interested in: watching sports.
Eliot made a living as a fine craftsman and carpenter, but at heart he was an artist. He was well versed in music, painting, literature, biking, travel, Mardi Gras costumes, poker, pranks, street performance and on and on and on.Having previously hiked the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal, he recently achieved another dream of summiting the highest stratovolcano in North America.
Eliot’s creative ability was astounding. His creations were designed to bring joy to others. He didn’t seek recognition or praise, and a large part of his work was anonymous. Pieces of art would appear in the community, encouraging people to think, connect and enjoy.
From the precociously funny and determinedly defiant boy that grew up in the Northwest corner of Connecticut, Eliot grew into a brilliant, gentle souled, boundlessly creative, ever mischievous, perpetually scraggly, and astoundingly wise and caring man who made an indelible impact on those who were lucky to have him in their lives.
In honor of Eliot, please consider making donations to organizations that work to end gun violence, support the arts, or provide mental health services. A service will be held at the Congregational Church in Salisbury on Sunday Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.
SHARON — Randall “Randy” Osolin passed away on Sept. 25, 2025, at the age of 74. He was born on Feb. 6, 1951, in Sharon, Connecticut to the late Ramon (Sonny) and Barbara (Sandmeyer) Osolin.
He was a dedicated social worker, a natural athlete, a gentle friend of animals, an abiding parish verger, an inveterate reader, and an estimable friend and neighbor. He was a kind-hearted person whose greatest joy was in helping someone in need and sharing his time with his family and good friends.
He was the beloved husband of Karen LaChance Osolin; the loving brother of Bruce Osolin and the late Gail Osolin Leo; the devoted uncle of Kyle and Andrew Osolin and Taylor LaChance; the brother-in-law of Debra LaChance; and the cousin of Brenda Curran, Jay Pickering and Audra Salazar.
To honor Randy’s memory, do a good deed for another or send a donation to the Little Guild, 258 Sharon-Goshen Road, West Cornwall, CT 06796. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.