Supporters, opponents clash over Riverhead’s proposed cannabis moratorium

Supporters and opponents of cannabis businesses clashed at a public hearing Tuesday night on a proposed year-long pause on new dispensaries in Riverhead Town.

The Town Board is considering a one year moratorium on new recreational cannabis businesses after a State Supreme Court judge last month struck down key aspects of the town’s cannabis zoning law. That decision, which the town is appealing, came in a case brought by Tink & E Co., a cannabis licensee denied a building permit due to the town’s cannabis zoning laws.

Although the hearing met the legal requirement for adopting the moratorium, the town has already agreed in a separate court case not to adopt it — or any changes to its cannabis laws — until that case is resolved. That agreement, reached and filed with the court last week, was not mentioned at the hearing.

Several residents spoke in favor of the moratorium. Many said cannabis sales should have never been allowed in Riverhead and warned of the potential impacts cannabis products could have on public health and community character.

“We’re asking for a one-year moratorium to take a step back, to have time to reflect on what we stand for,” said Lauren Collins of Riverhead. “You all know the truth. The dispensaries are not harmless. They bring increased traffic, late night activity, the risk of crime and, most dangerously, they normalize marijuana use, especially when it comes to our youth.” 

“No matter what the packaging for marketing says, cannabis is still a drug,” Collins added. “It’s an entry drug, or gateway drug, that affects developing minds in ways we’re only beginning to fully understand. We should not accept a vision of progress that puts profit over people and our communities health.”

Cannabis industry supporters countered that the proposed moratorium was illegal and would be challenged in court. They urged the town to embrace new dispensaries, arguing they are legitimate businesses that contribute to the local economy without adversely impacting children, who cannot legally purchase cannabis.

“Declaring a moratorium on cannabis at all, in any capacity, is absolutely the wrong thing to do,” said Gahrey Ovalle, president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition. “It’s wrong for the business owners who are in full compliance with the state and [have] done everything that the state has asked of them in order to operate. It’s wrong for the 21 and over adult-use community who deserves [and] who do not have access to legal, safe, regulated, tested products.” 

“Most importantly, it’s wrong for the taxpayers of Riverhead that will have to front and foot the bill for this frivolous moratorium that you’re suggesting,” he said. 

Ovalle said the town does not have the right to opt out of having dispensaries. “That ship has already sailed,” he said, “and your attempt at placing a moratorium on further and future cannabis retail is the town’s way of shirking your responsibility in an attempt to not be compliant with New York State law.”

Proponents of the cannabis industry said the town repeatedly ignored their warnings that its cannabis law was illegal. Justice Paul Hensley, in his decision in the Tink & E Co. case, ruled that the town’s method of zoning cannabis businesses conflicted with state law, which requires zoning regulations to be applied uniformly.

“I am one of the first licenses given on Long Island. I am the first license in the Town of Riverhead. I was fully given the license from the OCM. I’m still not open,” said Brian Stark who is seeking to open a dispensary on Route 58. His site is within 1,000 feet of a school — the town’s distance limit. Stark was denied a zoning variance and filed a lawsuit in June arguing that the town’s zoning law is inconsistent with state regulations.

Stark’s attorney Martha Reichert said the town is not powerless to regulate cannabis businesses. 

“Time, place and manner still allows a lot — for odor control, traffic, architecture, visual [and[  esthetic means — all of which are traditional zoning aspects,” she said. “So I think that, again, this is just a bridge too far. It is a moratorium in search of a problem. And at the end of the day, you’re going to again find that it is violating the cannabis law.”

Danielle Holmes, an attorney for a prospective dispensary at 189 Main Road in Aquebogue, asked the board to exempt businesses that have filed the required notice to the town for siting a dispensary. Those businesses, she said, have “already expelled resources to gain site control over the location” and would be damaged by the moratorium. 

“They’re trying to do their best to follow all the rules and be a collaborative member of the community in establishing their business,” Holmes said. “Having a moratorium affecting them at this point has a lot of negative and adverse implications on their business.”

Supervisor Tim Hubbard said he saw allowing dispensaries as an opportunity to increase town revenue, since municipalities receive a portion of the state sales tax imposed on cannabis products. The Town Board has already used some of its share of dispensary tax revenues to repair the pickleball courts and bicycle trail at Veterans Memorial Park.

But, Hubbard said, “I would not have voted for this knowing that the state was going to step in, and at some point in time, try to take control.” The Tink & E. Co. ruling said the town’s requirement that dispensaries be no less than 2,500 feet from one another is pre-empted by state rules, which set a minimum distance of 1,000 feet between dispensaries.

“[I]t’s a zoning issue — and it’s an issue that the town should never, ever have to allow the state to tell them where, when they can zone certain things,” Hubbard said. “Once the state does that, we lose all control.”

Hubbard said the town was misled by the state about its powers to regulate dispensaries. Officials said there have been no problems with customers at local cannabis shops.

As proposed, the moratorium 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.

Two dispensaries are already open within the town: Strain Stars in Riverhead and Beleaf in Calverton. Two other dispensaries — located at the former Moutafis Motors dealership in Riverhead and a building at 720 Main Road in Aquebogue — have received approvals from the Riverhead Planning Board and would be exempt from the moratorium.

Riverhead is one of only four towns on Long Island that did not exercise its right under state law to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana dispensaries. An effort in 2021 to opt out,  supported by then-Supervisor Yvette Aguiar and Council Member Ken Rothwell, was rejected by the other three board members, including Hubbard. 

Following that decision, Aguiar assigned Rothwell to form a committee to draft zoning rules for cannabis businesses. In November 2022, the Town Board passed restrictive zoning laws that effectively prevented most commercial properties from qualifying as dispensary sites, delaying the industry’s local rollout.

Early in 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. 

Dispensaries must still comply with other distance restrictions in the code, including a minimum of 1,000 feet from schools, libraries, or day care facilities, and 500 feet from houses of worship, town beaches, playgrounds, community centers, and children’s amusement parks.