Suffield Hemp Processor Wins Cannabis Zoning Fight

SUFFIELD, CT — A Suffield hemp processor has won its yearslong zoning fight over plans to grow and process cannabis at a former tobacco facility on South Grand Street.

In a unanimous decision released Wednesday, Aug. 19, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lasa Extract LLC and property owner The Crosswalk LLC, both managed by Ricardo “Rick” Sotil. The decision leaves in place an April 2024 Superior Court ruling that overturned the town’s denial.

The ruling does not give Lasa a state cannabis license. It removes the local zoning obstacle at 426 South Grand St., where the company has processed hemp since 2019.

The property was used to grow and process tobacco before Suffield adopted its zoning regulations, making that work a legal nonconforming use. Town officials later allowed hemp processing to continue at the site on the same basis.

The dispute began after Lasa sought approval in 2022 to operate as a cannabis micro-cultivator. Suffield’s zoning enforcement officer denied the request, and the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 in February 2023 to leave that decision in place.

Town officials pointed to the separate state and federal definitions, licenses and regulations governing hemp and cannabis. Lasa argued that the work taking place inside the building would remain largely unchanged.

The Supreme Court agreed that the regulatory label could not settle the zoning question by itself. A licensing difference “may be evidence” that a use has changed, the court said, “but it is not determinative of the zoning inquiry.”

Connecticut courts use three factors to evaluate a proposed change in a nonconforming use: how closely it resembles the original use, whether the character and nature of the work would change, and whether it would have a substantially different effect on the surrounding neighborhood.

Here, the justices found little practical difference between Lasa’s hemp business and its cannabis proposal. The company would use the same type of plants, equipment and extraction process, then ship the finished product off-site. The main processing difference presented in the case was that the cannabis extract would require less coconut oil for dilution.

Lasa also proposed no retail sales or on-site consumption. That mattered to the court, which made clear that its decision does not create an automatic right to replace any hemp operation with a cannabis business.

A town could still reject a change that brings retail customers or on-site consumption, requires substantial changes to a building or production process, creates new storage or shipping risks, or otherwise affects the neighborhood differently. The court said no such evidence was presented in Lasa’s case.

Suffield’s current zoning regulations generally allow cannabis retail, hybrid retail and micro-cultivation businesses in industrial and planned development industrial park zones with a special permit. They also impose a 200-foot buffer from residential zones.

The South Grand Street property sits in a residential zone, so Lasa’s case turned on its longstanding nonconforming use rather than the rules for opening a new cannabis business. The state Supreme Court heard arguments April 9 before affirming the Superior Court judgment.

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