AMSTERDAM — Frustration over the lack of local control of retail cannabis has led Amsterdam officials to enact a moratorium on marijuana dispensaries and on-site consumption lounges and smoke shops before developing updated zoning regulations.
“We opted into the cannabis program because we wanted to control where in the city it was going to be,” Mayor Michael Cinquanti said Thursday. “We were blindsided, because we thought we were going to have more time, more input, more ability to prevent unwanted locations.”
The Common Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a local law enacting a three-month moratorium on new applications for cannabis dispensaries and consumption sites and smoke shops, as well as a related ordinance adding definitions to the city code pertaining to businesses selling cannabis, tobacco and vapes.
Although specific changes have yet to be defined, officials plan to update existing zoning regulations in the coming months to provide the city greater control over where such businesses can be located.
Existing rules allow dispensaries in the downtown core, employment, commercial corridor and light industrial zoning districts. Consumption sites are allowed in the employment and commercial corridor zones. Manufacturing is allowed in the employment and light industrial districts. Marijuana businesses are not permitted in expressly residential zoning districts.
Officials had believed requiring cannabis businesses to secure special-use permits would provide the Planning Commission latitude to consider quality-of-life issues and other concerns potentially posed by proposals when reviewing applications under zoning regulations adopted in June 2023.
However, Cinquanti acknowledged it’s unclear if that is the case. He added that the state’s rollout of cannabis regulations was poorly communicated and did not provide the level of oversight or local input originally expected following the legalization of adult-use cannabis.
“For all those reasons, because of the ways the program was explained and introduced to us by the state and the problems we’ve experienced with that, caused us to say we’re going to put the brakes on and look at how we can give the city more control to be able to stop the cannabis industry from doing things the city doesn’t want them to do,” Cinquanti said.
Such issues apparently contributed to the Planning Commission’s 4-2 vote last week approving Sanctuary Gardens LLC, an adult-use cannabis microbusiness proposed in a former bank building at 161 Church St.
The proposal has broadly drawn opposition from residents and officials over its potentially harmful effect on surrounding homes, businesses and already heavy traffic at the 5 Corners intersection. Locals also worry about the impact on area youth frequently walking past the site to nearby bus stops, elementary schools and more.
A pair of neighborhood residents on Tuesday urged the council to adopt the moratorium to prevent similar outcomes in the future, reiterating the concerns over the planned business and their displeasure over its approval.
“I’m very disheartened by the city and the direction in which the city is going and the type of businesses that you’re bringing in. I really think that they’re going to regret the decisions that were made,” resident Cherylann Saul said. “There’s no regard for safety or a wholesome, happy, healthy neighborhood.”
“I don’t want to see what happened to us in the 4th Ward happen to any other neighborhood in the city,” another resident said. “I also hold the city responsible for all of this. There were so many missteps along the way and because of these missteps we, the 4th Ward residents, have to pay the price.”
The Planning Commission previously expressed concern over the proposal largely due to its location and twice voted to deny the proposal earlier this summer, but procedural errors invalidated those decisions for two straight months until it was approved last week.
Board members had previously questioned their authority to reject the application given the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) had already approved the location and issued an adult-use cannabis microbusiness license for Sanctuary Gardens in April.
Some members, who ultimately voted in favor of issuing the special-use permit, expressed unease over the situation and said they were “struggling” with the application due to the already completed steps in the process.
Those concerns were underscored by a letter from Crystal Peck, an attorney representing Sanctuary Gardens, arguing the application met the standards for a special-use permit in accordance with city zoning law and no proper basis for denial had otherwise been given by members of the board.
“It was clear that some, though not all, have animosity towards or associate stigma with the product to be sold by Sanctuary Gardens. This was evident both in the words of some commission members that the proposed use promotes ‘more drugs’ in the area, as well as whispered discussions had by the commission about the basis for a denial prior to its vote,” Peck stated in part in the letter submitted to the board in August.
“If the application is denied based on generalized concerns that a retail dispensary is not appropriate near a residential neighborhood, that would essentially prohibit any retail dispensary from being located within the [employment district]. Such a determination would be contrary to the legislative determination of the city council, would be arbitrary and capricious, and would constitute an ‘unreasonably impracticable’ standard under state law,” she continued.
Although he is not involved in decisions by the independent board, Cinquanti defended the members of the Planning Commission, saying they were put in a “very difficult position” and did the best they could with the available information under the circumstances.
“People in that commission are dedicated to the community. They spend a lot of time and effort trying to do what is right,” Cinquanti said. “It is the confusion caused by what we thought we could do and what we can do with regards to cannabis under the current situation that caused that back and forth, not individuals not doing their job or not caring about their community”
Furthermore, Cinquanti said the license OCM issued to Sanctuary Gardens was unexpected after a dispensary license had previously been issued to Amsterdam Cannabis, due to the originally limited number of cannabis businesses expected to be approved in each region of the state.
Amsterdam Cannabis, the first and only licensed dispensary to open in the city to date, has largely been accepted by officials indicating in the past that the site was well selected along a commercial stretch on Route 5S away from residential neighborhoods.
Cinquanti said the city had planned to point to the dispensary as an example of appropriate siting for future applicants.
“But we didn’t get the opportunity to do that,” he added.
While he shares the concerns about the Church Street site, Cinquanti noted state regulations for operating cannabis businesses and related oversight should prevent potential disruptions to the surrounding neighborhood.
“I don’t think you’re going to see loitering or crime, but it has to be run right and it has to be monitored and the state has told us those things are going to be done,” Cinquanti said. “I’m hoping my early concerns about that location being a dispensary prove to be unfounded, but we will see.”
The inclusion of smoke shops in the moratorium and upcoming zoning updates is intended to ensure there isn’t an overabundance of such businesses in the city, as well as to curb potential issues from unlicensed shops illegally selling cannabis. Cinquanti said that is another issue the state initially faltered at handling, although efforts to shut down illegal pot sales have been ramped up in recent months.
H/T: www.dailygazette.com
