Committee recommends lifting restrictions on cannabis sales in Riverhead

Until very recently, Riverhead Town restrictions regarding cannabis consumption left only a handful of locations in town where you could purchase or publicly consume marijuana. 

That’s because the zoning the town put in place last November banned the retail sale or on-site consumption of cannabis within 1,000 feet of residential properties.

But on Tuesday, a town committee dealing with cannabis regulations recommended revisions that would raise that number from a handful to an estimated 144 sites. 

Councilman Ken Rothwell, who heads the committee, explained: “What changed is that [we eliminated] the residential restrictions on the major corridors. These would be along Route 25A to Route 25 to Route 58 and then back onto Route 25.” 

Some entrepreneurs who sought to open cannabis businesses in Riverhead were finding the town zoning to be too restrictive, leaving them with few possible locations for legal cannabis sales or consumption. 

“We discovered this last year when we passed all the instructions,” Mr. Rothwell said. “People where were coming back to us saying there’s nothing available.”

 The town took another look at the situation and decided that the residential restrictions were the problem. Mr. Rothwell said the entire length of Route 58 is adjacent to residential properties. As an example, he cited Home Depot, which is very large and backs up onto a residential area.

To address the issue, the committee produced a map that divides the town into five commercial corridors and, according to deputy town attorney Anne Marie Prudenti, is proposing that the 1,000-foot residential distancing requirement be eliminated in those specific corridors.

The map is intended to avoid concentrating marijuana-related businesses in one area. . 

“We’re looking to distribute it evenly throughout the town,” Mr. Rothwell said. 

“This opened it up to the 144 parcels,” Ms. Prudenti said, noting that the change would not affect restrictions on proximity to day care facilities, schools and churches. The change would also not immediately result in 144 sites becoming available because some land could already be tied up by leases or sales contracts.

“It’s not going to be the wild, wild West,” said Mike Foley of Riverhead, an advocate of marijuana use, who attended the meeting. He noted that marijuana still is not legal nationally and that some banks would not give loans for marijuana-related businesses. 

Mr. Rothwell said he plans to put the proposal before the full Town Board in January, after the newly elected supervisor and board members have been sworn in. 

But Mr. Rothwell said the proposal also will implement a saturation rate to ensure that all of the sites don’t end up in the same area. 

Under this plan, Mr. Rothwell said, “the maximum [number] of facilities within the entire town would be limited to about eight to 10 sites.

“Currently, if we were to implement a plan such as this, it does give us 144 parcels,” Mr. Rothwell said. 

“But there is not going to be going to be 144 stores there … because each corridor has its own limitations of how many are going can be allowed in that particular area that’s due to the saturation rate.”

Ed. note: Story updated on Dec. 21 with Mr. Rothwell’s statement.