Amenia voters reject retail cannabis sales

AMENIA — Voters in the Town of Amenia narrowly rejected a proposal to allow retail cannabis sales, choosing instead to keep the town’s 2021 opt-out law in place.

Local Proposition No. 2 — listed on the back of the ballot — asked residents whether to repeal Amenia’s November 2021 decision to prohibit cannabis retail and on-site consumption.

The proposition failed by just 43 votes, with 560 opposed and 515 in favor. The margin was large enough to avoid an automatic recount under New York State law, which only mandates recounts when the margin is fewer than 20 votes or less than 0.5%.

Under the New York State Cannabis Law, local municipalities were required to opt-out of retail sales and on-site consumption of cannabis before Dec. 31, 2021. Amenia’s opt-out law, enacted that year, is part of the Town Code, under “Chapter 48: Cannabis.”

North East, Washington and Stanford town governments all passed opt-out ordinances prior to the December 2021 deadline.

Pine Plains will remain the only town in northeast Dutchess County that allows retail cannabis sales.

The Red Hook–based dispensary Upstate Pines is currently seeking site plan approval from the Pine Plains Planning Board for a proposed dispensary in the site of the historic agricultural weigh station across Route 82 from the Pine Plains Post Office.

Municipalities that opted-out may reverse that policy at any time.

Part of the tax scheme for retail cannabis is a 4% sales tax that goes directly to local governments. Of that 4%, one-quarter goes to county coffers and the other three-quarters goes directly to the town where the dispensary is located. If a dispensary is located in a village then municipalities have the option of creating a tax-split agreement or sharing the revenue equally between town and village governments.