Town officials are seeking public opinion on whether to allow retail sales of marijuana within the Town of Riverhead.
The town is conducting an online survey (hosted by SurveyMonkey and accessible via the town’s website) seeking input from residents and business owners. The survey consists of eight questions.
Legislation signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 31 legalizes the use, possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana in New York — subject to regulations, permitting requirements and other restrictions such as user age (it’s legal for people age 21 and up), weight, quantity, concentration, etc.
Local municipalities can opt-out of allowing the retail sale of marijuana and on-premises consumption in licensed locations within their jurisdiction.
In order to opt-out of retail sales and/or on-premises consumption, a municipality must adopt a local law prohibiting those activities by Dec. 31.
Under the new marijuana legislation, any local opt-out law is subject to a permissive referendum in the November general election. A permissive referendum, also known as a referendum by petition, is a tool that allows voters to essentially challenge certain laws or government actions with a petition that puts the question on the ballot for voters to decide.
Because of procedural requirements for the adoption of local laws and permissive referenda, if the town board wants to opt-out of retail sales and/or on-premises consumption, it must start the process to do so rather quickly, deputy town attorney Annmarie Prudenti told the town board at its work session Thursday.
The board would have to, by resolution, schedule a public hearing on a draft local law opting out, then hold a public hearing and then vote to adopt the opt-out law.
Under state law governing the permissive referendum, voters have 45 days from the effective date of the local law to file a petition to hold a referendum in the November election. The petition would have to be signed by at least 1,188 Riverhead voters — 10% of the number of votes cast by Riverhead voters in the most recent election for governor. The most recent election for N.Y. governor took place in 2018 and 11,882 Riverhead voters cast ballots in that election, according to data published by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
State law requires the petition for a referendum to be filed no less than 60 day before the election, Prudenti said.
All of those deadlines taken together mean the town board, if it’s inclined to opt out, will have to act on this much more quickly than officials initially thought.
Opting out doesn’t change the state law that legalized marijuana, Prudenti said. The drug can still be used, possessed and grown by individuals in Riverhead, regardless of what the local town board does. State-licensed commercial growers would still be able to establish growing operations within the town.
The only thing the town can opt-out of is retail sales and on-premises consumption.
If the town does opt-out, it will lose sales tax revenues on the sale of marijuana within its borders. The law establishes a 13% sales tax on marijuana products — 9% goes to the state, 1% goes to the county and 3% goes to the town.
There is no precise estimate of how much a 3% sales tax will produce for the town.
If the board decides not to opt-out — or if a decision to opt-out is essentially overturned by a referendum in November — the board can adopt a local law restricting the activity, including designating areas of the town where marijuana can or cannot be sold or where cafes and lounges for on-site consumption may be located.
Town board members on Thursday expressed uncertainty about how to proceed.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said Thursday the town board would have to “make a decision within two weeks.”
Councilman Tim Hubbard asked if the question could be decided by a referendum without the town actually opting out.
“It’s a well-debated topic on both sides and I really think the residents should have the say in this this,” Hubbard said. “We all have our opinions . To me it’s a big decision. And I think our our taxpayers, our residents deserve the opportunity to say whether they want it or they don’t want it,” he said.
Prudenti told him that isn’t possible because of the way the marijuana legislation is written. The only way to get the question on the ballot is by the process spelled out in the legislation — a local law opting out with the possibility of a permissive referendum in November.
“Regrettably, the town cannot legally take a matter which is subject to permissive referendum and put it as a mandatory referendum,” Prudenti said. “The law considers that as seeking advice from the public. And you can’t do that,” she said.
Councilwoman Catherine Kent suggested meeting with “stakeholder groups,” such as the agricultural advisory committee and Riverhead CAP, at next week’s work session.
Aguiar said she has “been in touch with CAP and I am working with them and they are presenting.” But, she said, “right now we have a very, very short timeframe to make a very, very large, big decision for the entire community.” The town board doesn’t have time to bring in different groups for discussions, she said.
“We are under the gun right now. Time is of the essence,” Aguiar said.
She advocated putting a survey on the town’s website and inviting the “entire community” to weigh in. That is what other supervisors are doing, she said.
Kent said she agrees the town should conduct a survey, and said it should go out immediately, but there is no reason to not meet with stakeholder groups that have expertise in the subject as well.
Hubbard said the opinion of a specific group “may not be a representation of the residents of the town.”
After some debate, board members agreed to conduct an online survey as well as meet with a representative of Riverhead CAP and possibly representatives of other groups at next week’s work session.
The survey went live Friday afternoon.
The eight survey questions are below. Questions five and six allow the option of multiple choice answers or a fill-in response.
- Are you a Town of Riverhead resident?
- Are you a Riverhead business owner?
- Do you support or oppose the sale of in-store cannabis in the Town of Riverhead?
- Do you support or oppose the consumption of on-site cannabis in cafes or lounges?
- Where would you support the location for a cannabis retail store in the Town of Riverhead?
- In which location would you support a cannabis on-site consumption cafe/lounge in the Town of Riverhead?
- Do you have any comments or questions related to either a cannabis retail store or a cannabis on-site consumption cafe/lounge?
- Please provide the address of your residence or business. This request is optional.
Correction: This article has been amended to eliminate reporting of a duplicate question in the survey preview.
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