NY: Tarrytown Board Passes Zoning Restrictions for Retail Cannabis Dispensaries

The Tar­ry­town Board of Trustees Tues­day ap­proved zon­ing amend­ments re­gard­ing the reg­u­la­tion of cannabis re­tail dis­pen­saries.

The changes to the Zon­ing Code place ad­di­tional re­stric­tions on po­ten­tial lo­ca­tions and op­er­a­tions of dis­pen­saries, which will oth­er­wise be al­lowed in zones that cur­rently per­mit re­tail uses.

“We’re amend­ing the Vil­lage Code to put more over­sight on to a cannabis busi­ness that ap­plies to have this in Tar­ry­town,” ex­plained Mayor Karen Brown, not­ing the vil­lage has re­ceived a few in­quiries on its laws per­tain­ing to such fa­cil­i­ties. “We’re try­ing to make ex­tra pro­tec­tion on our down­town.”

In De­cem­ber 2021, the Board of Trustees in­for­mally de­cided to join neigh­bor­ing Sleepy Hol­low in wel­com­ing cannabis dis­pen­saries by not opt­ing out of the Mar­i­juana Reg­u­la­tion and Tax­a­tion Act (MRTA), which was en­acted in New York State on March 31, 2021.

That law le­gal­ized recre­ational mar­i­juana and also opened the door for re­tail cannabis dis­pen­saries and con­sump­tion sites to set up shop in all com­mu­ni­ties. Tar­ry­town gave a thumbs down to con­sump­tion sites, also known as lounges.

Any tax rev­enues on lo­cal sales of mar­i­juana and other prod­ucts would be dis­trib­uted as a 9% ex­cise tax to the state, 3% to the mu­nic­i­pal­ity and 1% to the county. Tax col­lec­tions from the adult-use cannabis pro­gram are pro­jected to reach $350 mil­lion an­nu­ally.

Any busi­nesses that want to open a cannabis busi­ness in the vil­lage will have to get ap­proval from the Tar­ry­town Plan­ning Board. Dis­pen­saries are not al­lowed near schools or re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions.

Prior to the board’s vote on the amend­ments, sev­eral res­i­dents spoke out at a pub­lic hear­ing, urg­ing the board not to per­mit dis­pen­saries on Main St. and Broad­way. “To each his own with pot smok­ing, but I don’t want to see it on Main St. in my charm­ing vil­lage,” said Di­ane Tuohy of Storm St.. “We’re bet­ter than that. Don’t do it.”

Pe­ter Bar­to­lacci of Miller Ave. said he strongly op­posed dis­pen­saries in Tar­ry­town’s main down­town area. “It’s not some­thing I want to smell when I walk down Main St.,” he said. “It’s aw­ful. It’s un­nec­es­sary. It’s be­yond me why we are even con­sid­er­ing this.”

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Tarrytown Board Passes Zoning Restrictions for Retail Cannabis Dispensaries