Lasa Extract, LLC v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Summary

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed the trial court's judgment sustaining Lasa Extract's administrative appeal and holding that the cultivation and processing of cannabis at its Suffield facility was a lawful continuation of the property's existing legal nonconforming use (historically tobacco processing, later approved as hemp processing). The court held that a difference between the state licensing regimens governing hemp and cannabis is relevant evidence but not dispositive of whether a proposed use impermissibly changes the character of a nonconforming use, expressly declining the board's invitation to adopt a bright-line rule. Because the record showed no changes to the property, equipment, or process, no effect on the neighborhood, and no neighbor opposition, beyond the higher THC concentration of the final product and the different state license required, the record lacked substantial evidence of a change in character under the Zachs factors.