Village preparing to ‘opt out’ of cannabis sales



marijuana plantDuring the Monday, April 5 Board of Trustees’ meeting, Village Trustee John Delany proposed that Garden City respond to the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in New York state by instructing village counsel to draft legislation to “opt-out” of allowing the sale of marijuana in the village.

Under the new state law, while consumption of cannabis is now legal throughout the state, municipalities can refuse to allow the retail sale of the substance. Municipalities that opt out will not get to share in any tax revenue generated by cannabis sales.

Delany, who’s now the longest-tenured village trustee since first being elected six years ago, told new Garden City Mayor Cosmo Veneziale about the State Legislature’s passing and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature on the Recreational Marijuana law in March. 

“There’s also a provision in the law where New York municipalities including villages can opt out — I recommend that we direct village counsel to draft legislation the Board can pass that will allow us as a village to opt out of the ability to have recreational marijuana sold in the village. I know we have ample time to do it but I’ve also been on the Board of Trustees long enough to realize that things happen pretty quickly. I’d prefer to have this legislation before us so we can have a public hearing, as this summer is coming, and I’d ask for us to have counsel draft this legislation now,” he said.

Mayor Veneziale’s response was loud and clear: he said he agrees 100% with Delany that this was a good initiative to direct counsel to draft the legislation now.

Village Attorney Peter Bee said, “the legislation that was enacted in Albany basically calls for a licensing process for retail stores, dispensaries and for on-site consumption of cannabis. Any facilities which plan to allow those sales or on-site consumption must be licensed by a New York State Cannabis Board which has unfortunately not yet been created.” 

Bee noted that such a local law ‘opting out’ can be passed by the Board of Trustees following a notice of a public hearing with a draft local law, and then the actual hearing date with public comments received. He also said the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) is preparing model legislation for municipalities in the state that wish to opt out of the cannabusiness being permitted locally.

“The Village of Garden City isn’t required to await the draft of a model legislation and some of the villages our law office represents have asked us already to draft legislation to opt out, and we can have a proposed local law to you in short order. The Board may alternatively wish to wait and see what happens with regulations that are going to  be forthcoming from the New York State level and model the local legislation from NYCOM — considerations entirely up to you (the Board),” Peter Bee said.

Also, according to Bee, in this instance a local law would be required by New York State law, “to be made permissive to subject referendum” which would mean if within the village a petition was circulated and enough people signed it, then the legislation would have to be presented to the public for a vote. Bee further states that the likelihood would be if the Garden City trustees enact a local law opting out of allowing cannabis-related venues/stores, “no permissive referendum petition would delay the law’s implementation.” 

Trustee Delany put the emphasis on getting the legislation drafted and approved, “having it downstream now, and if we have to change it then we’ll change it.” He said the Board should not wait to have a look at model legislation from NYCOM that Bee referenced.

Bee confirmed that by the middle of April his office will have draft legislation circulating to the Village Board of Trustees, which be a draft to have the municipality opt out, as “a request by local law to the State of New York not to issue any licenses for cannabis sales or on-site consumption within the boundaries of Garden City.”

The next Village Board meeting is on Thursday, April 22 and this item could appear for an introduction of draft legislation, and/or setting a public hearing date at that meeting. In his comments Monday, Trustee Louis Minuto made a distinction that such an upcoming public hearing in front of the Board with a draft local law on Garden City’s opting out of cannabusiness does not qualify as a public referendum. 

“This may be something that we talk about having a referendum on as I know there is definite feeling for both sides on this. I’m not sure that just drafting the local law to basically prohibit this is the right thing without having a public referendum. That’s my two cents but I am happy to hear other points of view,” Minuto said.

New Trustee Bruce Chester asked if any other villages in the state have decided to opt out and if any have held meetings with official votes on this matter. Trustee Delany said he’s not sure that there are municipalities that have “had the ability to opt out yet” since the legislation passed in Albany. He noted the requirement of having a public hearing on this in front of the Village Board once the draft is prepared and presented to the community for review.

Trustee Colleen Foley commented on news stories she’s watched on CBS 2 NYC and News 12 about village officials in other communities banding together to have an “opt-out plan” for all of Nassau County, as she said the consensus among those officials “was to not have the cannabis businesses pushed from one community to a nearby community.” She asked if there were any such consortium being formed

Village Attorney Peter Bee says informal discussions among mayors who participate in the Nassau County Village Officials Association, but he’s not aware of any specific inter-municipal agreements or any other MOU’s of this nature that are on the verge of being formalized in any communities, “at least not yet.”

No new tax revenues

After Trustee Minuto raised a question on the financial considerations for the village if such businesses exist in a community. Bee said New York State will tax cannabis sales “and share those revenues with those municipalities that permit the sales to take place within their borders.” 

“The tradeoff is if Garden City opts out, then the village would not get a percentage of sales (from taxes). I was told that was a major sticking point in the state legislation, the division of the sales tax revenue among villages, towns, counties and other New York jurisdictions, though I am not hearing here that there’s any great interest in trading the revenue for the prohibition,” Bee said.

He also explained that if the Board of Trustees decides against Garden City pursuing the opt-out of permitting cannabusinesses, “then the Board is still required to regulate the time, manner and place at which retail sales and/or consumption of marijuana can take place.” He adds that some of the provisions of the state law took effect immediately, including that possession and use of up to three ounces of marijuana by any adult 21 years old and over became legal on March 31, 2021.  

“Should the Board choose not to opt out, or if by permissive referendum the public chooses not to opt out, you are still free to have zoning which restricts the time, place and manner of which sales and on-site cannabis use can take place. But again the aspect of personal possession and personal use in public is generally now to be regulated in the same way in which cigarettes are regulated; the village can declare a particular location ‘smoke-free’ and this can apply to both cannabis products and tobacco products. But beyond regulating smoking, possession and use of cannabis will be legal going forward on a personal level,” Bee explained.

3 responses to “Village preparing to ‘opt out’ of cannabis sales”

  1. Bf Wellington says:

    Opt out. We will be able to get it via grub hub from Queens anyway. There is no shortage of weed in GC. No need to setup shops in the village.

  2. Stoned Economist says:

    Opting out will not do anything about consumption in the village. It will still be 100% legal to smoke in Garden City. All it will do is deprive the village of tax revenue from its sale. Keep it legal.

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