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SCHENECTADY — Cannabis retail stores would be barred from setting up shop within 500 feet of child care centers and a raft of locations that attract youths in Schenectady, including dance studios and gyms, under a zoning proposal currently being considered by the City Council.
The council approved a 90-day moratorium on Nov. 12 that blocks new cannabis shops from submitting new applications for building permits, land-use approvals and certificates of occupancy through Feb. 11 as lawmakers weigh zoning restrictions for cannabis shops in the city.
In June, the council separately approved zoning that restricts smoke and vape shops to the C-4 downtown mixed-use district, the C-5 business district, the M-1 light manufacturing and warehousing district and the M-2 manufacturing and warehousing district.
The proposed cannabis shop zoning proposal from the city’s corporation counsel office builds off the vape shop zoning, with cannabis retail locations to be restricted to the M-1, M-2, C-4, and C-5 zoned districts and in the C-2 mixed-use commercial district and C-3 waterfront district.
Under the proposal, prospective cannabis shop operators would need to acquire special-use permits from the city planning commission in order to open retail stores in the C-2 and C-3 zoning districts.
The zoning changes would not affect the four current cannabis shops in the city or businesses that applied for permits before Nov. 13.
State regulations prohibit cannabis dispensaries from being located within 500 feet of or on the same street as a school, within 200 feet of a house of worship or 1,000 feet of another dispensary.
The proposed Schenectady zoning, which is modeled on zoning adopted last year by the town of Babylon in Suffolk County, also includes restrictions that would ban new cannabis shops from opening within 500 feet of parks, playgrounds, batting cages and youth organizations where kids under the age of 17 are expected to congregate.
The Schenectady City Council has forwarded the proposed cannabis zoning to the city planning commission for feedback, with a public hearing on the changes tentatively set for the council’s Jan. 13 meeting.
City Council President Marion Porterfield said she is concerned that the city is using Babylon as a comparison point considering the Long Island town has an approximate population — 218,000 — triple the size of Schenectady. Porterfield said she is also concerned that the proposal would use lot lines to establish the 500 feet between potential cannabis shops and nearby parks and child care centers instead of using a 500-foot radius for the restrictions.
“We’re using a town that’s more than twice the size than the city of Schenectady,” Porterfield said. “Usually when you want to make comparisons, you use something of a comparable size.”
Assistant Corporation Counsel Sean O’Brien noted during the council’s Nov. 18 meeting that the town of Babylon has not been challenged by the state since adopting its own cannabis zoning in October 2022.
Municipalities are permitted to adopt local laws that define the allowable location for cannabis dispensaries in a given city, as long as the restrictions don’t conflict with state law.
“I’m using them as a model because they’ve had this on their books since 2023 and they haven’t gotten pushback from this,” O’Brien said of Babylon.
Porterfield said she will dispatch a letter to the city planning commission prior to its next meeting on Dec. 18 outlining her concerns about the proposed zoning.
“I’m doing some background and research and I’m going to send them a letter with my concerns,” Porterfield said. “I also feel like, whenever you identify a problem, you have to have some possible solutions, so I’m doing that as well.”
The potential zoning changes are set to arrive nearly two years after the city’s first cannabis dispensary — Upstate Canna Co. — opened on upper Union Street in March 2023. Since then, the People’s Joint has opened on State Street, Electric City Cannabis Co. opened on Lower Broadway and Grass & Goodness dispensary opened at 1650 Crane St. on Saturday.
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”}]] Cannabis retail stores would be barred from setting up shop within 500 feet of child care centers and a raft of locations that attract youths in Schenectady, including dance studios and gyms, under a zoning proposal currently being considered by the City Council. Read More
