East Haven Town Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.

EAST HAVEN — Two business owners are already making plans to open cannabis establishments in East Haven before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission has decided whether to allow them in the area.

Justin Frytz, an East Haven resident, and Frank Kane, who is president of a company that works in cannabis in other states and plans to partner with a social equity group in Connecticut, explained their goals and answered questions about cannabis businesses at a joint meeting of the commission and Town Council on Wednesday night.

Frytz said he and his wife are trying to obtain several licenses with the state to operate different types of cannabis-related businesses in East Haven. He inquired about possible cultivation and retail within the town about six months ago and was asked to join the meeting by attorney Jennifer Coppola, who works with the town, to answer questions about business operations.

Frytz said he’d like to operate as a hybrid retailer, meaning the shop would sell both recreational and medical marijuana, or obtain a packaging license.

“Because we live here in East Haven, obviously, if we obtain one of those other licenses, we’d like to keep close to home,” Frytz said, adding they would operate out of a warehouse in whatever town agrees to work with them.

As for retail plans, Frytz has not zeroed in on a location yet but said a lot of factors, such as nearby traffic, the number of patients or consumers of age nearby and more go into that decision.

“Those zoning laws really haven’t been established yet, so we haven’t signed any leases yet,” Frytz said.

Kane, on the other hand, already has a place in mind for his retail shop, he said.

Kane’s firm will be doing a joint venture with a social equity group, which would allow his firm to obtain a license. A set amount of licenses available in the state’s lottery system are reserved for social equity applicants.

The property Kane has his eyes on is on Frontage Road with plenty of parking.

“We’ve actually discussed it with the landlord and have it locked down. We’ve got it on contingency,” Kane said.

Frytz has spoken with other towns, such as North Haven, and said a main concern has been hours of operation.

A lot of dispensaries operate like a traditional retailer, such as a CVS or Walgreens, according to Frytz, but hours of operation are usually either 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The closest retail businesses for comparison to retail cannabis are liquor stores, Frytz said.

“But in most cases, dispensary stores are usually much more secure, much more restrictive,” Frytz said. “There’s one way in and you go out a different entrance. Then you come in, they check the IDs every entrance, they scan them and verify they’re legal and then you enter one way and exit throughout another door.”

Another big part of security is the town being fully on-board with the business, including the local police, Frytz said.

Frytz said he would operate his business similarly to a bank. An example he gave is a dispensary just over the Massachusetts border in Springfield.

“All the product is kept through a locked window behind the counter and you’re helped by individuals with a tablet, so you never touch the product until you’ve paid for it and are exiting the building,” Frytz said.

Kane echoed Frytz’s statements, calling dispensaries extraordinarily safe and that they will only become safer with the passing of the SAFE Banking Act, which prohibits a federal banking regulator from penalizing a depository institution for providing banking services to a legitimate cannabis-related business.

Very little cash is actually on-hand at cannabis businesses, Kane said.

“Every square inch of the facility is under camera at all times and there is on-site security at all times during business hours,” Kane said. “You have a much easier time buying liquor if you’re underage than you do buying cannabis. It’s virtually zero is the amount of cannabis being sold to people underage.”

How much money could be made from retail cannabis remains unclear, due to the amount of factors in play, such as traffic and location, but with Kane’s possible Frontage Road location near I-95 and I-91, his predictions show the business raking in $15 million by year three.

“The location we have is such that we think that it can generate $15-18 million gross in a short, short time period,” Kane said. “What the sustained rate is, we honestly don’t know. You don’t know until you get in the dispensary and until you see what it does.”

This could potentially mean a lot of money for East Haven, as retail cannabis sales will have a 3 percent tax headed to the municipality where the business is located. One council member did quick math at the hearing, estimating the town could see around $500,000 a year in sales tax revenue alone from just one business.

That money could then be used by the town for improvements, educational programs, training programs, mental health services, community and civic engagement programs and more.

The Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council discussed next steps and were told that when the commission makes a decision on cannabis, Coppola, one of the town’s attorneys, would draft a regulation subject to a public hearing.

Coppola said she had reached out for input on retail cannabis to department heads, the fire chief, the police chief and East Haven’s health district, but has yet to hear back from the latter two.

She asked if officials would like to learn more on other topics and one council member asked her to reach out to those who transport cannabis to area and the certification on safety related to transport.

“I think that you will find whoever is able to secure a license to bring [cannabis] to East Haven, I think you’re going to find that any retail cannabis operator wants to be a productive and contributing member to the local community,” Kane said.

Christine DeRosa is a shoreline reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media, focusing on education and youth. She has previously covered juvenile justice and breaking news at the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and the Staten Island Advance and holds a Master's degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.