A real estate development planned for central Connecticut would include a 50-unit affordable housing complex with a cannabis growing operation and a dispensary.
The New Haven Register reports the former Himmel Brothers Co. metal fabrication site in Hamden, a town adjacent to New Haven, had been approved for housing in 2017. The Planning and Zoning Commission already provided its approval for the Nightjar branded dispensary, and the cannabis growing operation proposal is now being studied by the commission.
The cannabis business behind the project is Soulstar, one of the few women-owned and women-led cannabis companies in the region. That company is owned by Amanda Rositano, who holds a Connecticut provisional Section 149 Disproportationately Impacted Area (DIA) cultivator license.
According to the application for the project, “The (Planned Development District) is requested because of the uniqueness of the property and the buildings and uses currently existing and to allow for the construction and re-development of certain residential units and other commercial uses when another town-wide zoning district could not be appropriately established to accomplish such purpose. The property is owned by and the proposed development is led by Joseph Natale (the principal of the Applicant/Owner), a long-time Hamden resident and builder with a deep history of investing in and improving sites across the town.”
The application added the new development would only sell medical cannabis for registered patients.
As for the housing element of the project, it would include renovation of 30 existing units located near the property and the creation of 20 new residential units “designed to increase the affordable housing supply in the town.” The units would be designated as affordable units based on local zoning regulations.
