Nearly three years after New York State issued him a license to sell cannabis, Brian Stark has yet to open his retail cannabis dispensary in Riverhead, despite a recent court ruling in his favor.
The New York State Supreme Court struck down a section of Riverhead’s Town Code on Sept. 24 which stipulated a boundary of 1,000 feet between any cannabis dispensary and any school, library or day-care facility. State Supreme Court Justice Paul Hensley cited the state’s 2021 Cannabis Law § 1, that sets that boundary at 500 feet, and ruled that Stark, whose proposed dispensary at 1086 Old Country Road sits 735 feet from a school, “may proceed with the process of obtaining a building permit and a certificate of occupancy.”
