Marijuana dispensaries included with vape shops in proposed new zoning in Oyster Bay

A revised zoning proposal in Oyster Bay that would treat vaping shops and potential marijuana dispensaries the same has some in the e-cigarette industry calling foul.

The Oyster Bay Town Board plans to hold a special hearing Tuesday on the proposed local law. It would require vaping shops, hookah lounges and marijuana dispensaries to be located in areas zoned for light industry and to obtain a special-use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

A similar proposal — which didn’t include marijuana dispensaries — was shelved after pushback at a 2019 hearing from Long Island vaping merchants and a state trade group.

The town has revived the issue as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature negotiate the possible legalization of recreational marijuana in New York, which could be included in the budget scheduled to pass next week.

Cheryl Richter, executive director of the New York State Vapor Association, an e-cigarette trade group, said it was unfair to link nicotine products to marijuana.

"Nicotine doesn’t impair anybody’s ability to drive," Richter said. "Marijuana’s not our issue."

Electronic cigarettes warm a liquid containing nicotine so that it becomes a vapor that the user inhales. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that their use is unsafe for children, teens and young adults, and state law prohibits their sale to those under 21.

Richter said e-cigarette users use them to quit smoking and that the zoning restrictions would limit "access to their harm-reduction product that they chose to help save their lives."

Matt Flax, the owner of Vaporville, an e-cigarette shop in Hicksville, said treating marijuana and nicotine businesses the same in the zoning code is "unfair."

"You can’t lump businesses together," Flax said. "One business sells one thing that has nothing to do with anything else."

Town spokesman Brian Nevin wrote in an email that the new zoning law would not apply to existing businesses.

Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino didn’t offer reasons why the town seeks to treat marijuana shops the same as vaping shops in its zoning code.

"The only control we have is over zoning," Saladino said. "We're being proactive and listening to the public to move these kinds of businesses into light-industrial areas, and that’s what would keep them from being across the street from the school or a house of worship or a playground."

Oyster Bay special counsel Thomas Sabellico said, "Being treated the same doesn’t mean they’re the same."

"Zoning classifications by their very nature indicate what types of industries go into what parts of town, and that's within the purview of the town board," he added.

Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Association, a marijuana industry group with offices in Washington, D.C., and Denver, said other states that legalized marijuana had initially seen similar zoning restrictions on dispensaries.

"In the early days of legalization, most localities that did allow cannabis businesses tended to restrict them to industrial areas," Fox said. He noted that over time, such restrictions and even complete bans have sometimes been relaxed as local governments have seen economic benefits from the businesses.