Applicant argues code ambiguity as ZBA weighs 750-foot buffer for proposed cannabis dispensary

Flintstone Cannabis sought a special permit and area relief from the Town of Babylon’s 750-foot buffer requirement to open a 1,500-square-foot retail cannabis dispensary in a strip center on Broad Hollow Road in East Farmingdale.

Applicant Gerard Glass (speaker 8) and engineer Nicholas Buscemi (speaker 13) told the board the tenant space sits on a 4.2-acre lot and that measuring from the tenant premises or tenant entrance —rather than the overall lot boundary—yields a distance of approximately 932 feet to the nearest residential zone. The town’s measurement placed the site at about 620 feet, roughly 130 feet short of the 750-foot code requirement. Glass argued the town code contains conflicting provisions for measuring the buffer and that the lot’s size, intervening commercial buildings and existing landscaping provide effective separation from residences.

Glass noted planning staff recommended denial and acknowledged the board has not historically granted relief from the 750-foot requirement, but he cited the town’s environmental-controls memo, which found no substantial adverse change to air, water, traffic, noise or community character, and invoked state cannabis law language that, he said, prohibits local rules that make operation “unreasonably impractical.” The board heard the engineering explanation and closed the hearing; the board reserved decision.