PINE PLAINS — Planning Board members granted final approval Wednesday, Dec. 17, for two major commercial projects: the proposed Upstate Pines cannabis dispensary and a large lumber mill and showroom.
The site plan for the dispensary was approved by a 6–0 vote.
The proposed cannabis dispensary will be the second location of Red Hook-based dispensary business Upstate Pines, founded by Brian Seiler, Ben Abrahams and Ben Abrahams in 2024. Planning board members approved site plans that propose to utilize the former historic weigh station building at 7723 S. Main St. across from the Pine Plains Post Office.
The proposal, designed by architect Kristina Dousharm, underwent a lengthy approval process that included public comment earlier in the fall. Residents urged the board to be mindful of the building’s historic character — as the community’s former agricultural weighing station — and raised concerns about its proximity to the Pine Plains Firehouse on an adjacent parcel and the Post Office.
Although Pine Plains’ local law prohibits dispensaries within 300 feet of the firehouse or the Post Office, state law supersedes those restrictions. Planning Board members ruled in October that the local provisions are unenforceable, eliminating the need for a waiver.
Board members also approved the site plan and granted necessary waivers to The Hudson Co., which plans to build a 50,000-square-foot lumber mill, office building and showroom just south of Stewart's Shops gas station on Route 82 at the southern entrance to downtown Pine Plains.
Approval was unanimous with a 7-0 vote and no abstentions.
The lumber mill will produce wood beams, flooring and paneling.
Hudson Co. representatives proposed the large mill and expanded campus because the operation had outgrown a manufacturing facility it currently occupies at 2290 Route 199 in Pine Plains. LaBella Associates engineers designed the expanded campus.
The Upstate Pines cannabis dispensary first went before the board in August, and the Hudson Co. mill and showroom has been under review since May.
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