Brown Budda, a Southampton cannabis dispensary locked in a monthslong zoning dispute with the town, plans to open its retail storefront next week, saying it passed a state inspection and has the necessary approvals from the town.

Attorney Christian Killoran, who represents Brown Budda New York LLC in zoning and licensing matters, said the dispensary passed a state inspection on Oct. 30 and received clearance Monday from the state Office of Cannabis Management to begin adult-use cannabis sales.

The store at 1533 County Road 39 intends to open Nov. 12, Killoran said Monday.

“We are very confident we have the weight of the law in our favor,” he said.

Dispensary owners Marquis Hayes and Kim Stetz declined to comment Monday about the planned opening.

The opening would cap more than a year of delays and legal wrangling.

Brown Budda sued the town in August, alleging Southampton’s zoning rules — which limit cannabis businesses to two of eight commercial districts and require costly special permits — violate state law, Newsday previously reported. The dispensary argued that state cannabis regulations preempt local ordinances. Southampton is one of four Long Island towns that opted to allow recreational marijuana sales.

Southampton Town Attorney James Burke did not respond to questions about whether Brown Budda had the permits to open the store next week.

Burke said Monday he hadn’t seen Killoran’s letter to the town about the opening.

He said the town had issued Brown Budda a “special exception,” also known as special-use permit, to open the business in the summer.

The town granted the dispensary a special-use permit on Sept. 16, following the filing of its lawsuit, according to town documents Brown Budda shared with Newsday. However, the special exception required the dispensary to build a sidewalk in front of the property, an unnecessary requirement that would cost the business an additional $40,000, Killoran said.

The state Cannabis Control Board, which serves as the approval and oversight body for the OCM, subsequently found Southampton’s rules to be too restrictive, Newsday previously reported.

The state OCM granted Brown Budda license to sell cannabis on June 14, 2024, according to Data.NY.gov, an online repository of government data. The dispensary opened for curbside pickup on Oct. 4, 2024, while waiting for town approval to allow customers to shop inside the store.

There’s been some “growing pains” in implementing rules in the town in compliance with state law, but the town is trying to work with retailers that want to open, Burke said.

Brian Sokoloff, who represents the town in Brown Budda’s lawsuit against Southampton, on Tuesday declined to answer questions about the store’s planned opening.

But he said “the legal issues in this matter are novel, and are very interesting.”

The state inspection is meant to make sure cannabis retailers are able to comply with the state’s requirements regarding security, secured storage, advertising, and sales reporting, the agency said in an email to Newsday.

Killoran in his letter to the town said he has asked the town repeatedly “to voluntarily withdraw its Special Use Permit requirement to no avail.”

He said the town’s “wrongful utilization” of special permit use law has cost Brown Budda millions of dollars. “My client has no choice but circumvent the Town’s abject intransigence,” he said.

If Brown Budda opens the retail store without the proper permits, the town may have to take the business to court, town attorney Burke said.

With Tara Smith