The Riverhead Town Board is considering a year-long moratorium on cannabis dispensaries after a State Supreme Court judge ruled key aspects of the town’s cannabis zoning law invalid last week.
The board is scheduled to vote Tuesday to set an Aug. 19 public hearing on a local law imposing the moratorium. The measure would exclude projects that already have approvals and would establish a process allowing the Town Board to grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
The proposed moratorium follows a ruling last week in a State Supreme Court case brought by a cannabis licensee who was denied a building permit due to local zoning laws. The judge found the town’s 1,000-foot buffer between cannabis businesses and any residential use, along with its exemption for properties fronting five designated “commercial corridors,” violates New York State law, which mandates that zoning regulations must be applied uniformly.
The judge also ruled the town code’s 2,500-foot minimum distance between dispensaries is preempted by state regulations, which only require a 1,000-foot buffer between them.
The legislative intent of the moratorium also cites a “significant amount of public concern…regarding the quantity, location and proximity of” cannabis businesses within the town “asserting that operation of this type of land use will pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the public.” Residents have voiced opposition to cannabis businesses at recent public meetings.
According to the legislative intent, the moratorium would give the town time to prevent new dispensaries from opening “while these issues are further considered and the law is adequately revised to address any outstanding concerns.”
The court’s decision came in a case filed in March by Tink & E. Co., owned by cannabis license applicant Elizabeth McGrath of Cutchogue, along with GM Realty Riverhead, the property owner. Tink & E. Co has been attempting to open a dispensary in the former bank building at 1201 Ostrander Avenue. That site did not meet local zoning criteria, and a variance petition to the Riverhead Zoning Board of Appeals was denied.
In addition to invalidating portions of the town’s zoning rules, the judge called the zoning board’s denial of the variance “arbitrary and capricious.”
Town Attorney Erik Howard said last week that the town plans to appeal the decision in the case, and would change its cannabis zoning to “address the impact of the decision” going forward. Howard did not return a call seeking comment for this story Monday.
The Town Board was scheduled to discuss the Tink & E. Co case during an executive session Thursday. While the moratorium resolution was not in the draft work session agenda sent to the press last week, it appeared on the official agenda by Monday.
Supervisor Tim Hubbard and council members Joann Waski and Ken Rothwell did not return calls seeking comment Monday. Council members Bob Kern and Denise Merrifield said they did not have time to speak when reached by phone.
The moratorium would not apply to cannabis businesses that have already received approvals. Two dispensaries — Strain Stars in Riverhead and Beleaf in Calverton — are already in operation.
A dispensary planned for the former Moutafis Motors dealership in Riverhead has received preliminary site plan approval and would likely be protected against the moratorium. However, a dispensary on Main Road in Aquebogue, by the owner of the Farmingdale-based dispensary Planet Nugg, has not received any approvals and could be affected.
According to the court’s ruling, Tink & E. Co. has “proximity protection” from the state Office of Cannabis Management against any nearby dispensary, including the one proposed by Moutafis Motors.
Attorney Andrew Schreiver, who represents Tink & E. Co., said the town must abide by the court’s ruling and allow his client’s dispensary go forward.
“If the town plans on pursuing a strategy that ultimately is aimed at now having our property zoned out, we think it’s highly problematic from a legal perspective,” Schreiver said of the moratorium.
“We really do hope the town reconsiders its position, looks back at the decision and really considers whether this site is worth whatever it is that they’re planning on doing,” Schreiver added.
Schreiver and his co-counsel, David Holland said in an interview that the town must have a strong legal basis to impose a moratorium. They also note that provisions of the state Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act prohibits municipalities from adopting local laws that make it “unreasonably impracticable” for dispensaries to open — or ban them altogether.
Holland said the state Office of Cannabis Management will have “no choice” but to take a stand for or against the moratorium.
“Because this is… effectively an opt-out, at least for a period of a year, and that’s unreasonably impractical to the industry as a whole, which is what the MRTA cautions against when it comes to home rule issues,” Holland added.
The Office of Cannabis Management declined comment on the proposed moratorium.
Another reason for the moratorium cited by the town is the Office of Cannabis Management’s revised interpretation of state law regarding proximity to schools. While the law prohibits dispensaries within 500 feet of school grounds, the agency had been measuring from building entrance to building entrance. It now says the law requires measuring from the dispensary entrance to the school property line.
The change affects 152 licensees and applicants statewide. The state is providing funding to assist impacted businesses and plans to seek a legislative amendment to align the law with its previous interpretation.
However, attorney Martha Reichert of Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo LLP said this issue does not affect any applicants in Riverhead and criticized the town inclusion of that reasoning.
“I think that that is a little bit of that sort of Reefer Madness disinformation, or fear of legal cannabis,” she said.
Reichert is representing Brian Stark Enterprises LLC, another licensee suing the town over its cannabis law. The company wants to open a dispensary at a former paint store at 1086 Old Country Road, next to the Roanoke Plaza Shopping Center. The site is within 1,000 feet of the Riverhead High School property and does not meet current zoning standards.
Like Tink & E. Co., Brian Stark Enterprises was denied a zoning variance and would likely be affected by the moratorium.
“They can’t regulate to the extent that they think they can,” Reichert said of the town. “There’s still plenty of time, place and manner rules that they can enact — with respect to esthetics and different things — but they can’t regulate cannabis out of Riverhead, and I think that that’s a little bit of what this moratorium is attempting to do.”
Reichert expects the moratorium to be challenged in court if passed, potentially with both cannabis licensees and the state as plaintiffs.
“It hurts Riverhead, in the long run,” Reichert added. “It hurts these licensees who have gone through the process. Many of them are justice involved and social justice licensees. So I think that these are small business people who are trying to make a go of what is a legal business, and I think all around it’s unfortunate.”
Riverhead is one of only four towns on Long Island that allows recreational marijuana dispensaries. After a 2021 effort to opt-out of cannabis sales failed, the Town Board passed restrictive zoning laws that effectively prevented most commercial properties from qualifying as dispensary sites, delaying the industry’s local rollout.
In early 2024, the board eased those restrictions somewhat by establishing five “commercial corridors.” Under the revised law, dispensaries proposed on properties fronting these corridors — essentially Riverhead’s business areas, excluding downtown — could receive approval even if within 1,000 feet of a residential use. Each corridor was limited to one dispensary, except for Route 58, which has no cap but mandates a 2,500-foot buffer between shops.
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