LAZ Investments seeking change to allow cannabis dispensary near Dunkin’ Park in Hartford
LAZ Investments, the investment office of LAZ Parking magnate Alan Lazowski, is seeking a zoning amendment to allow for the former Goodyear property at 306 Market St. in Hartford to house a new recreational cannabis dispensary.
To allow for a dispensary at the site, which is directly between Dunkin’ Park stadium and the Connecticut River, the company seeking an amendment allowing retail cannabis within 2,000 feet of the river.
Current city regulations allow for cannabis retail use only permitted in the downtown, Main Street, industrial and multi-use mixed zones in the city.
The former Goodyear auto service building is owned by LAZ Investments LLC, is owned and managed by Lazowski, a well-known city developer, according to Mary Coursey, public relations consultant for LAZ. Lazowski, who owns several properties in the city, is also the co-founder of LAZ Parking, a national company with parking lots at 3,500 locations across 41 states. The company, founded in 1981, employs over 13,000 employees and manages over $1 billion in annual revenues, according to its website.
LAZ Investments LLC, the family investment office of Lazowski, has bought up several other properties around Greater Hartford in recent years, including luxury apartments in West Hartford, but this would mark the first time it is seeking an entry into recreational cannabis.
After receiving the request to amend zoning regulations to allow dispensaries near the river, the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission members suggested certain restrictions, including requiring retailers to obtain a special permit and excluding dispensaries within 500 feet from schools or government buildings — restrictions that govern other areas in the city that allow recreational cannabis.
“Uses shall include only Multi-Unit Dwelling, Bed & Breakfast, Hotel/Apartment Hotel, Assembly, School, Transit Station, Airport, Neighborhood Retail, Neighborhood Service, Child Day Care, Drinking Place, Eating Place, Office, Craftsman Industrial, Park, Intensive Park Uses, Cannabis Retail, with a special permit, and not located within a 500 foot radius of parcel used or reserved to be used for the purpose of a school or civic assembly and Temporary Events, as well as Accessory Uses to these Principal Uses,” according to the new proposed amendment.
“There was no action on the matter taken at Tuesday’s meeting,” said Aaron Gill, commissioner of the city of Hartford planning and zoning commission and inland/wetlands commission. “My understanding from the meeting, is that it will be on the agenda for our July meeting, but that typically depends on the applicant.”
The next Planning & Zoning meeting is scheduled for July 11.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
