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With virtually nothing suitable for retail cannabis dispensaries within Brookhaven’s borders, licensed operators are threatening lawsuits unless the town changes its tune.
Hugo Rivas, a member of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, has had a particularly rough go – even though he’s held a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license since April.
Rivas, of Central Islip, said he’s filed three applications with the Town of Brookhaven to operate a dispensary. Thus far, he’s got nothing to show for his efforts to rebuild his life and support his family.
On top of the disappointment of being turned away because of the town’s highly restrictive zoning laws pertaining to weed stores, there’s the small matter of legal expenses.
Well, perhaps not that small.
“It cost me and my partner over $100,00. We hired an attorney from the beginning,” he said. “That’s not an exaggeration.”
Rivas, CEO of Toke Folks LLC, said he had one application turned aside because his planned dispensary location was located 700 feet from a baseball batting cage. It “just doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Unlike most towns on Long Island, Brookhaven chose not to opt out of the New York State recreational cannabis program after the passing of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. (The other three are Babylon, Riverhead and Southampton.)
But Brookhaven did implement strict zoning requirements for retail cannabis operations in August 2021.
The Royal Castle is in Brookhaven, NY.Courtesy of Airbnb
For example, retail cannabis stores in the town are only permitted in an L1 (light industrial) zone.
The net effect has been to discourage would-be cannabis entrepreneurs, according to Brian Stark, who was one of the first in November to be issued a CAURD license for Long Island. Stark said he’s been scouring the town for an available location and has come up empty-handed.
“When you look at the L1 zones on the map, there’s virtually nothing available,” he said, except for empty warehouses and abandoned buildings that would cost a small fortune to turn into a retail operation.
And even if you were to find a building that was feasible to renovate, it’s in an area that’s like a “ghost town at night,” which makes it an inviting target for “break-ins and robberies” given the “kind of product we sell,” Stark said.
Add that to the “lack of vehicle traffic and foot traffic” in most L1 zones, and it does not make a retail operation in these areas feasible, he added.
The town’s zoning code also requires a 1,000 foot setback from the lot line of a school, place of religious worship, park, playground or playing field, library, hospital or similar public or semi-public place of general congregation.
That requirement is not part of the state’s current guidelines, and it’s “really causing a lot of the problems,” Stark said.
“We’re waiting on the final regulations to be issued by the OCM in September,” and hopefully there will be “guidelines” on where the dispensaries can be located and not be discriminated against, he said.
If nothing changes by then, “there may be lawsuits” filed by members of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, Stark said.
The Town of Brookhaven, which stretches all the way from the North Shore to the South Shore, has a population of around 500,000. It also includes Fire Island, a popular tourist and vacation spot where there are no L1 zones.
Asked about the criticism leveled by applicants, Town of Brookhaven spokesman Jack Krieger said in a statement that no actual applications for retail cannabis have been denied.
It’s simply that the “several inquiries” that have been received “have been for properties that are not within L1 zoning, or were too close to schools, houses of worship or residential property as outlined within the code,” Krieger said.
Albert Capraro, of East Moriches, was also in the first group that received CAURD licenses in 2022.
But he’s run up against the same brick wall in Brookhaven as the others, even though he owns his own building in the Village of Patchogue in Suffolk County.
Capraro, whose marijuana conviction “put a damper on my life so I couldn’t get a decent job and I was looked upon as a bad guy,” feels like he’s stuck in limbo until the town changes its tune.
“I guess they’re not interested in the 40% of the tax revenue that the town would get,” he said.