In mid-July, the New York State Cannabis Control Board issued 212 licenses to retailers, including 18 in the Mid-Hudson region, bringing the total statewide to 463, 44 in the area. But while the legal marijuana industry is spreading across New York like weeds, the Village of New Paltz has yet to see anyone open shop…at least on a permanent basis.
There are currently four different proposals for potential cannabis dispensaries before the Village of New Paltz Planning Board, though none have reached the stage of municipal approval for their plans, much less received licensing approval from the state’s Cannabis Control Board.
• An application submitted by New Paltz Bus Depot, LLC, with Radi Serdah its sole member cited in the Planning Board’s files.This potential dispensary is on a property located at 98 North Chestnut Street, formerly a Stewart’s Shop on a nearly one acre parcel of land. The existing building 2,365 square-foot building was sold for $550,000 in September 2022, down from its initial asking price of $650,000. Unlike other similar applications before the Planning Board, this query is coming from a property owner on behalf of a prospective tenant.
According to the applicant, the dispensary business would make use of the existing building with minor modifications. The bulk of the tentative internal plan is devoted to a sales floor, with a 36-square-foot bathroom and a 25-square-foot storage space. The plan also includes 24 parking spaces, a landscaping plan generated by Stewart’s in 2009.
• Farmer’s Choice, LLC proposal “The Barn” for 1 Old Route 299, which would include 3,000-square feet of first floor retail space and 2,000-square feet of first floor storage. Above the storage would be 2,000-square feet of office space. The plans also include a parking lot with 35 spaces, with at least two electric vehicle charging stations. A six-foot high wood fence is also planned for the rear of the property.
• Zero Development, LLC is seeking approval for approximately 4,000 square-feet of retail space, plus an additional 800 square-feet of office and storage space for a potential dispensary at Zero Place, a mixed-use building at 87 N. Chestnut Street The property is listed in the Neighborhood Business Residential zone, and in addition to ground floor retail space, also has 25 two-bedroom and 21 one-bedroom units across three stories.
• Lila Luckie’s, LLC owner Katherine Stevens, is seeking approval for a dispensary at 88 North Chestnut, with possible parking extended to 92 North Chestnut.
The state’s guidelines for the number of dispensaries in a municipality is based upon year-round population, so most students at SUNY New Paltz would not be a determining factor. Efforts to reach the Office of Cannabis Management for clarification of the per-capita number of dispensaries allowed in a community were unsuccessful.
Clearer are rules for the location of retail dispensaries within a municipality: They cannot be located on the same road and within 500 feet of school grounds, or on the same road and within 200 feet of a building occupied exclusively as a house of worship.
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