Riverhead cannabis shop freeze prompts heated debate

Riverhead residents on Tuesday weighed in on the town's pitch to freeze new cannabis store approvals for one year during a public hearing, with some residents concerned about their rapid growth while marijuana advocates warned the move could push consumers back to the illicit market.

With two marijuana dispensaries up and running and at least five more proposed, Riverhead is weighing the freeze to evaluate state laws and assess local impacts.

The proposed moratorium would pause approvals on new dispensaries while the town seeks clarity over zoning control. Riverhead’s proposal comes after a Suffolk judge struck down portions of town code that are more restrictive than state rules when it comes to distances between dispensaries for a proposed dispensary at 1201 Ostrander Ave.

But Riverhead may not have the legal basis to adopt a moratorium. As part of a separate lawsuit, for a proposed dispensary at 186 Old Country Rd., the town was ordered to "absolutely and without exception refrain from taking any further action" on cannabis dispensaries, including implementing a moratorium. 

The stipulation, signed Aug. 13, allowed the hearing to proceed but prohibits the town from voting on the moratorium until the lawsuit is "fully adjudicated." Town officials did not mention the stipulation Tuesday and town attorney Erik Howard did not respond to a request to comment Thursday.

Councilman Ken Rothwell, who voted against opting in to legal sales in 2021, worked on a committee to draft Riverhead’s zoning. The town's code requires dispensaries be along major commercial corridors and spaced 2,500 feet apart.

Rothwell said during the hearing Tuesday the zoning addresses saturation so “no one particular area was going to suffer at the hand of multiple stores” in one hamlet.

“At this point, if the judge is going to take away our authority for home rule … then we need to pause the entire process altogether,” Rothwell said Tuesday.

But Gahrey Ovalle, president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, told the town board that a moratorium is the wrong approach.

“Riverhead has opted in to cannabis retail, and you don’t have the right to opt back out. That ship has already sailed,” he said, adding the moratorium is an attempt to skirt rules.

Ovalle said stopping dispensaries from opening is a “green light for illicit sales.”

Residents who favor the moratorium said the town needs to “pause and reflect” on the impacts the industry has locally.

“The dispensaries are not harmless,” said Dawn Collins, of Riverhead. “They bring increased traffic, late-night activity, the risk of crime and most dangerously, they normalize marijuana use.”

Mary Hyland said the proliferation of dispensaries in Riverhead is concerning.

“It’s ludicrous to think that we need more,” she said Tuesday.

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the issue is about Riverhead maintaining local zoning control.

“We haven’t had any issues with people, customers of the cannabis shops,” Hubbard said.

Two dispensaries, Strain Stars and Beleaf, opened in Riverhead last fall and generated $133,000 in tax revenue for the town in the first quarter of 2025, according to town officials. A third planned for Main Road in Aquebogue, Planet Nugg, recently won approval from the town planning board; all three would be exempt from the moratorium.

Another, at 840 Old Country Rd., has preliminary approval from the town but no state dispensary license; two others are held up in litigation; and another proposal for 189 Main Rd. in Aquebogue in an office building could be halted by the moratorium. 

Brian Stark, who wants to open the dispensary at 186 Old Country Rd., urged the town to comply with state regulations.

“It’s not going to turn into a flood of 25 dispensaries opening,” Stark said. “There’s not the room, there’s not the real estate."

The town board is accepting written comments on the moratorium through Aug. 29.