Recreational cannabis dispensaries will now be allowed in three Essex County towns, according to unofficial election results, after voters on Tuesday rejected local laws that would have banned the cannabis shops from opening within the towns’ limits.

The towns of North Elba, Wilmington and Jay each had propositions about cannabis on the back of their ballots on Election Day. North Elba’s proposal was split into two town propositions — one for cannabis dispensaries and one for on-site cannabis consumption licensing — and town voters only voted to allow cannabis dispensaries, not on-site consumption licensing for businesses. The Wilmington and Jay ballots proposed a local law opting out of both cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption licensing in a single proposition, and voters in both towns rejected the proposition.

Some voters voiced confusion about how the cannabis proposals were worded on the ballot. For voters who wanted to say “yes” to cannabis dispensaries, they actually had to bubble the circle next to “no” on the ballot — the towns’ propositions asked voters whether or not they wanted to pass a local law opting out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption licensing. Meaning: A voter who wanted to allow cannabis dispensaries in town needed to vote “no” under the proposition; a voter who wanted the town to prohibit dispensaries needed to vote “yes.” Voters who wanted the town to allow cannabis consumption licensing for businesses needed to vote “no” under the proposition; a voter who wanted to prohibit businesses from being able to obtain those licenses needed to vote “yes.” Wilmington and Jay voters decided to allow both dispensaries and on-site consumption licensing, and North Elba voters are only allowing cannabis dispensaries.

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The state of cannabis

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Recreational cannabis for adults was legalized in New York in March 2021, and local government officials had until December 2021 to pass local laws opting out of allowing dispensaries and/or on-site consumption licensing within their boundaries.

Local laws opting out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption licensing were subject to a permissive referendum. While villages could opt out and pass a resolution to place the laws on the ballot — like the village of Lake Placid did in March of this year — towns had to wait for residents to file a petition to put the laws on the ballot this November. Residents in the towns of Jay, Wilmington and North Elba filed petitions earlier this year to place the local laws on the ballot. Many officials in these towns voiced support for the petitions, saying they wanted to leave the cannabis decision to their voters rather than to their town boards.

Voters in Lake Placid green-lit retail cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption licensing in a special election this past March. The cannabis question wasn’t on the ballot in the town of Keene. The Keene Town Council voted unanimously to opt out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries and on-site consumption sites on Oct. 12, 2021 and passed the law on Nov. 9. No one submitted a petition to bring the decision to a public vote on the ballot.

The state isn’t accepting applications for retail dispensary or on-site consumption licenses yet. The state Office of Cannabis Management is currently considering its first batch of more than 900 applications for the first 150 dispensaries to open in the state, according to The Associated Press. This application period was only open to people previously convicted of marijuana charges. Gov. Kathy Hochul told the editorial board of Advance Media New York in October that 20 adult-use retail dispensaries are set to open by the end of this year, with another 20 opening “every month or so” after that. Hochul hasn’t said where any of these dispensaries will be located.

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North Elba

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North Elba voters approved cannabis dispensaries in town by an 84-vote margin, according to unofficial election results — 1,396 people voted “no” and 1,312 people voted “yes” when asked whether or not they wanted to pass a local law opting out of allowing cannabis dispensaries in town. Voters opted out of allowing on-site consumption licensing in the town by a more than 200-vote margin — 1,452 people voted “yes” to opting out of allowing cannabis consumption licensing, and 1,234 people voted “no.”

The first proposition read: “The New York Cannabis Law authorizes the State Cannabis Control Board to issue licenses for cannabis retail dispensaries, but allows a Town to ‘opt out’ by requesting that such facilities not be licensed within the Town. The Town Board adopted a Local Law making this request which only takes effect if approved by a majority of Town Electors. Therefore, the question being set forth to the voters is: ‘Shall the Town seek to prohibit the establishment of cannabis retail dispensaries by requesting that the State Cannabis Control Board not license any such operations within the Town?'”

The second proposition read: “The New York Cannabis Law authorizes the State Cannabis Control Board to issue licenses for on-site cannabis consumption sites, but allows a Town to ‘opt out’ by requesting that such sites not be licensed within the Town. The Town Board adopted a Local Law making this request which only takes effect if approved by a majority of the Town Electors. Therefore, the question being set forth to the voters is: ‘Shall the Town seek to prohibit the establishment of on-site cannabis consumption sites by requesting that the State Cannabis Control Board not license any such sites within the Town?'”

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Next for Lake Placid

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In anticipation of different cannabis laws in the town and village — where there’s not a clear-cut line between the two municipalities — officials formed a joint committee this past December intended to address one agenda item: amending the joint land use code to account for legal cannabis businesses in the event that town and/or village residents overturn the municipalities’ opt-out laws.

Village Trustee Jackie Kelly is on the committee along with town Councilor Emily Kilburn Politi, Lake Placid/North Elba Community Development Director Haley Breen, Code Enforcement Officer Michael Orticelle and Code Enforcement Officer Darci Lafave.

On Tuesday, Kilburn Politi said the committee put its work on pause for most of this year as the town and village initiated a moratorium in March on the issuance of new short-term vacation rental permits and reworked their STR regulations. Town and village boards are now in the final phase of drafting the regulations, according to officials. Kilburn Politi said on Tuesday that she’d want to move forward with the town’s zoning regulations if voters approved cannabis dispensaries and/or on-site consumption licensing.

In December, Kilburn Politi said that cannabis retail and on-site consumption businesses would need to be added as uses to the town and village’s land use code and that they need to be placed in zoning districts, defining where they can and can’t go.

Committee members discussed extending state regulations on how close a cannabis business can operate to schools and similar facilities. The proposed zoning changes would be an extension of cannabis business zoning set by the state in the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which states that cannabis businesses can’t operate within 500 feet of a school or within 200 feet of a place of worship.

The committee also wanted to prohibit a cannabis business — which includes dispensaries, on-site consumption lounges and smoke shops — from operating within 200 feet of a daycare, childcare facility, youth center, community center, recreational facility, playground and other places where children gather.

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Wilmington

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Wilmington voters approved cannabis dispensaries and licensing in the town by 33 votes, according to unofficial election results — 306 people voted “no” and 273 voted “yes” to the proposition asking voters if they wanted to approve a local law forbidding cannabis shops and on-site consumption licensing within town lines.

The proposition read: “Shall there be approved and adopted in the town of Wilmington, New York, a local law entitled ‘Local Law No. 2 of 2021, a local law to opt out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and onsite consumption sites as authorized under the Cannabis Law Article 4’ as enacted by the Town Board of the town of Wilmington on Dec. 14, 2021?”

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Jay

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Jay voters approved cannabis in the town by a slightly wider margin of 65 votes — 546 voters said “no” to the opt-out law and 481 people voted “yes.” The text of Jay’s proposal was identical to Wilmington’s, but the Jay town board would have instead enacted its opt-out law on Dec. 9, 2021.