After two cannabis dispensaries opened in Riverhead last fall, developers have pitched plans for even more shops. But the town’s zoning regulations are hindering plans for two — prompting a legal battle in one case and concerns over another site’s proximity to a school.

Tink & E. Co. Inc. is suing Riverhead in Suffolk State Supreme Court after the town’s zoning board of appeals denied a variance for its store at 1201 Ostrander Ave.

The property, a former bank, is zoned to allow retail businesses but can’t be accessed on Old Country Road. A cannabis shop must front a main road under the town’s code.

Attorneys for two other hopeful cannabis entrepreneurs filed affidavits in the lawsuit since the outcome could affect their clients’ plans for separate dispensaries on Old Country Road.

State Supreme Court Justice Paul Hensley issued a temporary restraining order that barred the town from issuing permits to other dispensaries. But after the other developers intervened, Hensley lifted the order.

The town is dealing with widespread interest following the opening of two cannabis dispensaries, Strain Stars and Beleaf, last fall.

Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard declined to address the lawsuit but said in an interview that the town’s rules aim to strike a balance and prevent the proliferation of dispensaries.

“That’s part of what our code was when we developed it as to how many we wanted in one particular area,” he said in an interview. The town is processing the applications as they come in, Hubbard said. 

“If you get all your approvals and you have all the licensing, it will be first come, first served,” he said.

The fates of all three dispensary plans are unclear. Riverhead Town laws prevent dispensaries from opening within 2,500 feet of one another.

Applicant Brian Stark is seeking a variance to open a dispensary in a former paint store at 1086 Old Country Rd. Peter Moutafis is vying to open a dispensary at 840 Old Country Rd., replacing a car dealership.

Race to the finish

Martha Reichert, an attorney for Stark from the Twomey Latham law firm in Riverhead, described a race-to-the-finish-line mentality as the dispensaries vie for town approvals. She said local zoning codes are at odds with state statutes,including those regulating distances between each other and from schools.

“Riverhead is sort of pitting these dispensaries against each other in a way that I don’t think the state ever intended,” Reichert said in an interview.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for Elizabeth McGrath, of Tink & E. Co., said the zoning board’s denial was “irrational.” That property is flanked by sites where the town’s code outright allows cannabis retail.

Dispensaries in Riverhead can be within 1,000 feet of homes if they front a “commercial corridor” on a main road.

“Everybody around us is literally allowed to sell cannabis without a variance,” Andrew Schriever, an attorney for McGrath at the firm Holland Schriever LLP, said in an interview. “After being required to procure property in order to qualify for a dispensary and investing six figures into the process, it’s unjust.”

In court documents, Schriever said the site has struggled to attract a tenant since the bank closed in 2017 and is “uniquely tailored” for a dispensary because it has safe storage for cash and products and plentiful parking. It is accessed from Ostrander Avenue, which is a safer way to enter than through Old Country Road, he said.

Philip Siegel, an outside attorney hired by Riverhead, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard did not return a phone call.

Contentious meeting

Meanwhile, Stark’s proposal, for a dispensary 1,600 feet west of the proposed Tink dispensary, was met with contention from zoning board members during a hearing April 24.

Stark needs a variance to open at the former paint store because it’s within 1,000 feet of Riverhead High School property.

“That’s at odds with what the state requires,” Reichert said, referring to state guidelines that prohibit cannabis stores 500 feet from school grounds.

At the hearing, Reichert argued there is “no visual or physical connection” since the school is fenced off and separated by another shopping center and four-lane road.

But board member John Porchia III raised concern about the proximity of the dispensary to teenagers who may frequent the nearby shopping center.

“You’re going to have students … walking past a cannabis dispensary to go have lunch or enjoy their period off,” he said, adding it amounted to a “bad combination.”

A final decision on that dispensary is pending.

A third contender

Moutafis’ plans for a dispensary at 840 Old Country Rd. could throw a wrench into the other two applications. It’s on track for town approvals and doesn’t need a variance.

There is currently a car dealership at the site, according to court documents filed by Moutafis’ attorney, Vincent Trimarco Sr., of Smithtown.

Trimarco did not respond to a request for comment. Riverhead’s zoning laws allow a dispensary at that property and a site plan review is underway, town officials said.

Taylor Randi Lee, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Cannabis Management, confirmed in an email that all three proposed cannabis dispensaries are “approved retail licensees.”

Neither proposal drew widespread public pushback at town meetings, though one resident voiced concerns about Riverhead becoming a “pothead place” during a hearing in January.