Community Board 2 Recommends Denial of Dispensary at 66 Jane Street Amid School- proximity Concerns

Patricia Larry, vice chair of Manhattan Community Board 2's cannabis licensing committee, said the committee met on Jan. 12, 2026, to review an adult-use retail dispensary application for 66 Jane Street (also listed as 807 Greenwich Street) submitted under Upstate State Collective LLC and now listed under Silver and Spindle LLC with Jennifer Zar as contact. After public testimony and committee deliberation, the committee recommended denial of the application.

The application drew dozens of residents to the hearing. Kate Bostock, chair of the Jane Street Block Association, told the committee: "This location is wholly inappropriate for a ... cannabis operation and would cause real and lasting harm to a quiet residential community." Speakers repeatedly cited West Village Nursery School, which residents estimated lies roughly 350—1 to 375 feet away, and urged the board to uphold the legislative 500-foot buffer between schools and new cannabis retailers.

Kayla Ferguson, identified by the applicant as director of operations for Dagmar Cannabis, described the proposed outlet as a small, "boutique" retail footprint similar to the operator's SoHo and Williamsburg stores. Ferguson said the business would check IDs at the point of sale, keep a reduced SKU selection, and use cameras and panic buttons but would not staff a security guard. On community concerns about outdoor seating, Ferguson stated, "We will not be putting tables and chairs out." She also said deliveries would be available but later told the committee the operator would not pursue deliveries if the community found them inappropriate.

Residents and property owners raised additional objections: several speakers said the block is predominantly residential (zoned R6), that sidewalks and stoops are heavily used by families, and that the location would generate loitering, noise and litter. Sam Salig, a resident and former public health sanitarian, cited New York City land-use guidance during public testimony and said 66 Jane Street falls in an R6 district that typically does not permit adult-use retail dispensaries.

Other attendees pressed the committee on application details. Jacob Solig argued the applicant's claimed "proximity protection" was invalid after a prior application withdrawal and highlighted inconsistent address listings (66 Jane Street vs. 807 Greenwich Street) in filings. Committee staff and members discussed the status of Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) proximity protections and an injunction affecting enforcement; committee staff noted OCM records showing the license and sales documents but said legal questions about protections remained in play.

In business session the committee focused on the 500-foot rule as the central legal and consistency issue. A motion to recommend denial was made and carried; one committee member, Mara Fitzgerald, recused herself at the start of the meeting because of a prior association with a license connected to the applicant. Patricia Larry said the committee's recommendation to deny will be forwarded to the full community board, which will consider the resolution at its Jan. 22 meeting.

The application package and specific regulatory questions remain part of the record: speakers flagged an initially unsigned lease submitted with the questionnaire (the committee later received a signed DocuSign lease), multiple spellings and address variants in application materials, and ongoing legal questions about proximity protections under OCM guidance and court action. The committee's recommendation is advisory; the final licensing decision rests with state authorities and any applicable zoning or enforcement processes.