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It’s been an uphill battle trying to open the retail cannabis spigot on Long Island, but some positive signs are surfacing on the north shore of Suffolk County.
Just a month ago, the Town of Riverhead unveiled a revised zoning map that made many more sites available for weed stores — 144 instead of just four under the existing map (adopted in 2022).
But after checking out nearly all the newly available parcels in town, members of the nonprofit advocacy group Long Island Cannabis Coalition told NY Cannabis Insider that only a few of the locations are viable because most property owners don’t want to sell to a prospective cannabis store, or they’re asking outrageous prices.
Nonetheless, Town Councilman Bob Kern considers the proposed zoning changes a step forward and foresees the town making further revisions to better accommodate dispensary applicants.
But he acknowledged that, after hearing from the coalition about the lack of suitable locations under the revised map, “there’s more work to do.”
One idea that may be considered, Kern told NY Cannabis Insider, is allowing cannabis dispensaries “on side roads, and not just the main corridors” in the town.
The commercial corridors eyed under the revised map include main thoroughfares in the hamlets of Wading River, Calverton, Aquebogue and Jamesport — along with the busy Route 58 corridor, which would be permitted more than one cannabis store, as long as the stores are located 2,500 feet apart.
Members of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition — which has also been trying to move the football in Southampton, Islip and Brookhaven — said that while they were encouraged by Riverhead’s new map, they’re also disappointed.
“It is very concerning that we may only see one or two” dispensaries as a result of the new map, said Coalition Vice President Hugo Rivas, especially “with all these illicit shops popping up all over the place. It’s really about keeping people safe.”
Coalition President Gahrey Ovalle was a bit more critical.
The revised map was “absolutely” unacceptable, Ovalle said, and falls “well short of being in compliance” with New York State standards and “meeting our demands.”
Despite a population of more than 3 million, the rollout of retail cannabis dispensaries in Nassau and Suffolk counties has been as slow as molasses.
Just two legal dispensaries have opened on the island (both in the Town of Babylon) with one other expected in the near future — the Columbia Care medical marijuana facility, in Riverhead, which is expected to go recreational this year.
The main stumbling block has been that only four municipalities in all of Nassau and Suffolk counties have not opted out of the state’s retail cannabis program: Riverhead, Brookhaven, Babylon and Southampton.
While Coalition members may not be thrilled about the revised zoning map, Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard feels it’s a reasonable compromise.
Saying he was pleased with the new map, Hubbard acknowledged the 144 number could be greatly reduced since some of the properties have “federally insured mortgages.”
“Once they’re whittled down, we will be able to accommodate dispensaries in six different hamlets in the town,” he said, though “I don’t think the market will support that.”
Hubbard said thus far the town has received 12 dispensary applications, although seven of those applications have been denied.
The supervisor acknowledged that when “push came to shove, and we put pencil to paper, town officials realized that the original zoning map was “highly restrictive.”
There has been a change of heart since then.
“We would be interested in getting more tax revenue for the town,” he said, plus “for years we were taught to think of marijuana as a gateway drug, which is totally not true,” and that there “would be all these crazy people wandering around town causing trouble, and that’s certainly not the case.”
The town board will proceed based on input from an upcoming public hearing, Kern said, along with recommendations made by the town cannabis committee. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 21, 2024.