Legislation

§ 72. Adult-use retail dispensary license. 1. A retail dispensary
license shall authorize the acquisition, possession, sale and delivery
of cannabis from the licensed premises of the retail dispensary by such
licensee to cannabis consumers.

2. No person may have a direct or indirect financial or controlling
interest in more than three adult-use retail dispensary licenses issued
pursuant to this chapter.

3. No person holding a retail dispensary license may also hold an
adult-use cultivation, processor, microbusiness, cooperative or
distributor license pursuant to this article or be registered as a
registered organization pursuant to article three of this chapter,
except for such organizations licensed pursuant to sections
sixty-eight-a and sixty-eight-b of this article.

4. No retail license shall be granted for any premises, unless the
applicant shall be the owner thereof, or shall be able to demonstrate
possession of the premises within thirty days of final approval of the
license through a lease, management agreement or other agreement giving
the applicant control over the premises, in writing, for a term not less
than the license period.

5. With the exception of delivery or microbusiness licensees, no
premises shall be licensed to sell cannabis products, unless said
premises shall be located in a store, the principal entrance to which
shall be from the street level and located on a public thoroughfare in
premises which may be occupied, operated or conducted for business,
trade or industry.

6. (a) No premises with a license issued pursuant to this section, or
section sixty-eight-a of this article, or section seventy-three of this
article that allows for the retail sale of adult-use cannabis, shall be
located on the same street and within five hundred feet of a building
containing a school.

(b) No premises with a license issued pursuant to this section, or
section sixty-eight-a of this article, or section seventy-three of this
article that allows for the retail sale of adult-use cannabis, shall be
located on the same street and within two hundred feet of a building
exclusively occupied as a house of worship.

(c) The measurements in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision are
to be taken in straight lines from the center of the nearest entrance of
the premises sought to be licensed to the center of the nearest entrance
of such school or house of worship.

(d) For purposes of this subdivision: (i) The word "entrance" shall
mean: (A) a door of a school regularly used to give ingress to students
of the school; (B) a door of a house of worship regularly used to give
ingress to the general public attending the house of worship; or (C) a
door of the premises sought to be licensed regularly used to give
ingress to customers of such premises.

(ii) A door which has no exterior hardware, or which is used solely as
an emergency or fire exit, or for maintenance or delivery purposes, or
which leads directly to a part of a building not regularly used by
students of the school, the general public attending the house of
worship, or customers of the premises sought to be licensed, is not
deemed an "entrance".

(iii) If the school, house of worship or premises sought to be
licensed is set back from a public thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs
leading to any such door shall be deemed an entrance; and the
measurement shall be taken to the center of the walkway or stairs at the
point where it meets the building line or public thoroughfare.

(e)(i) For purposes of paragraph (b) of this subdivision, a building
occupied as a house of worship does not cease to be "exclusively"
occupied as such by incidental uses that are not of a nature to detract
from the predominant character of the building as a house of worship.

(ii) Such uses include, but are not limited to: (A) the conduct of
legally authorized games of bingo or other games of chance held as a
means of raising funds for the not-for-profit religious organization
which conducts services at the house of worship or for other
not-for-profit organizations or groups; (B) use of the building for
fund-raising performances by or benefitting the not-for-profit religious
organization which conducts services at the house of worship or other
not-for-profit organizations or groups; (C) the use of the building by
other religious organizations or groups for religious services or other
purposes; (D) the conduct of social activities by or for the benefit of
the congregants of the house of worship; (E) the use of the building for
meetings held by organizations or groups providing bereavement
counseling to persons having suffered the loss of a loved one, or
providing advice or support for conditions or diseases including, but
not limited to, alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer, cerebral palsy,
Parkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's disease; (F) the use of the building
for blood drives, health screenings, health information meetings, yoga
classes, exercise classes or other activities intended to promote the
health of the congregants or other persons; and (G) use of the building
by non-congregant members of the community for private social functions.

(iii) The building occupied as a house of worship does not cease to be
"exclusively" occupied as such where the not-for-profit religious
organization occupying the house of worship accepts the payment of funds
to defray costs related to another party's use of the building.

(f) No renewal of a license shall be denied because of the
restrictions in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this subdivision.

(g) When evaluating an application for compliance with this
subdivision, the proximity of the premises sought to be licensed to a
school or house of worship shall be determined based on the date such
applicant submits its location to the office.