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DeWitt board adopts local law regulating smoke shops, mirrors cannabis rules
Summary
The DeWitt Town Board on March 24 adopted a local law adding zoning and operational rules for smoke shops, aligning most provisions with existing cannabis dispensary restrictions and adding local distance and concentration limits.
The DeWitt Town Board on March 24 adopted a local law establishing zoning and operating rules for smoke shops, the board said, using much of the same restrictions the town previously applied to cannabis dispensaries.
Town planning staff and the board said the draft law mirrors the town’s cannabis regulations while expanding some local limits — including a new distance restriction for preschools and a rule limiting how close smoke shops may be to one another.
Alana, the town Planning and Zoning Director, told the board the smoke shop language was based on the cannabis rules the town used after New York legalized marijuana.
"It's exactly the same restrictions as the cannabis dispensaries that took those, and I put them right into this document," Alana said during the hearing. "What I did expand on that's different from the regulations of the cannabis law is the definition of smoke shop. … other than that, this is exactly the same as the cannabis law."
Board members discussed how state guidance requires local restrictions be "reasonable" when a municipality opts into state cannabis regulation; the town applied that same approach to smoke shops. The local draft adds distance limits that go beyond state language, the planning director said, and includes preschools and limits on concentration of shops in a single area.
The board closed the public hearing and then voted to adopt the local law. Councilor Max moved to adopt and Bernard seconded; the motion carried on the board’s voice vote.
The notice for the hearing cited state and town authority for the local law, including references in the hearing notice to the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law and the New York State Town Law and the town code provision creating Chapter 192, section 192-69.2.
Board members and staff said the new rules are intended to keep retail uses selling smoking materials in commercial and industrial districts, away from parks, schools and other sensitive uses, consistent with how the town handles cannabis retailers.
The board did not provide an implementation timetable during the meeting; the local law and related materials were available for public inspection at the town clerk’s office before the hearing.
