QUEENSBURY — As the New York adult recreational market for marijuana progresses, Town Board members are educating themselves on the do’s and dont’s of town regulations.
In a Town Board workshop meeting on June 28, Josh Silver, a land use attorney and recreational cannabis retail business owner, informed the board of his experience owning marijuana stores in Massachusetts and now Maine.
“I think New York is moving a little slower in terms of the process,” Silver said.
He noted Massachusetts passed its marijuana laws in 2016 and he was able to open a store in Williamsburg, by 2019. Silver, along with his partners with backgrounds in marketing and cannabis cultivation, now own multiple Silver Therapeutics stores in Massachusetts and just opened two stores in Maine at the beginning of 2021.
Silver spoke about the importance of not creating “clusters” of retail marijuana stores that could ruin “the Adirondack aesthetic in Queensbury.” He suggested creating specific zones of use and setbacks between each store.
People are also reading…
“In Boston, they have setback rule of half a mile, so no two stores can be within 2,500 feet of each other,” Silver told the board.
He explained that the state regulations only require stores to be 100 feet from schools or churches, so it would be important to create an additional setback from certain buildings.
“When you are coming into a town proposing the sale of a level one narcotic, according to federal law, you have to reassure people it will not change the character of the neighborhood,” Silver continued.
The business owner stated that New York had taken a lot of the power away from local governments when the state law was passed. However, Silver said the state has not yet established regulations for retail and on-site consumption, but has only focused on growing and product manufacturing rules.
Several board members mentioned the first licenses in New York being awarded to retailers owned by residents with prior marijuana offenses, after Silver suggested his company looks for sparsely licensed areas.
“We think it is really admirable New York is going this route, so we have partnered with some of these individuals to bring the expertise of our company to some of the people newer to the industry,” Silver said.
One of Silver’s main points and the town’s reasoning for the early look at regulations lies in the current lack of regulations that would allow recreational marijuana shops to lease any available retail location.
The city of Saratoga Springs has already approved a zoning ordinance for cannabis retailers. The city will require retailers to obtain special use permits issued by the planning board and restricts operation to three commercial districts, with a 1,000-foot separation required between each dispensary.
New York state has yet to release the guidelines for recreational marijuana retailers.
Jana DeCamilla is a staff writer who covers Moreau, Queensbury, and Lake George. She can be reached at 518-742-3272 or jdecamilla@poststar.com.
Be the first to comment