Goosehill neighbors urge stricter cannabis zoning after dispensary opens

Two residents of the Goosehill neighborhood urged the Schenectady City Council on Jan. 27 to tighten local zoning rules for cannabis establishments after a dispensary opened on their block.

Judy Schottmeyer, who said she has lived in Goosehill for more than 40 years, told the council she and many neighbors were surprised and upset to learn a dispensary would be located on Grilling Street, above a recently closed Walgreens Pharmacy. “Very few people I talked to wanted it there,” Schottmeyer said, and she described petitioning neighbors against the store.

The neighborhood’s concerns extend beyond location. Christine Moore, speaking for the Goosehill Neighborhood Association, said a 2021 survey conducted by the group found residents were not decisively for or against cannabis businesses but flagged issues including driving and advertising. Moore asked the council to use local zoning — including the mixed-use C-2 rules — to shape where businesses may locate and to direct tax revenue toward neighborhood priorities. “The plan that’s being put forth today seems to address a lot of the issues that were coming up from listening to our neighbors,” Moore said, and she thanked staff and the planning commission for work done during a 90-day moratorium.

Why it matters: speakers said Goosehill lacks a grocery store, bank and pharmacy, and they objected to on-site consumption. Schottmeyer said she opposed patrons smoking near the sidewalk because children could walk by and inhale smoke. Moore urged the city to link zoning changes to neighborhood needs and to consider restrictions on on-site consumption and advertising.

The comments came during the council’s first public hearing, which the presiding officer closed after the two speakers. Moore cited work by Assistant Corporation Counsel Sean O’Brien and the planning commission during a 90-day moratorium on new cannabis applications; the council did not take a vote on a zoning change at the Jan. 27 meeting.

Council action and next steps: the transcript records that the council formally opened and then closed Public Hearing No. 1; it also shows staff and the planning commission have reviewed proposed zoning language (identified in the agenda as “adding section 2-64-113, article 3, to the Schenectady City zoning code to regulate the location of cannabis establishments and uses”). The council did not adopt the amendment on Jan. 27; further review or a separate vote would be required for any change to the zoning code.

Community context: both speakers framed concerns as neighborhood-level quality-of-life issues rather than criminal-law questions, asking the council to direct any tax revenue from cannabis businesses toward local services and to limit visible on-site consumption and advertising near schools and residences.

The public hearing record on Jan. 27 closed with two speakers; the council did not announce a date for additional hearings on the zoning amendment.