Last month, Gossips shared the news, first reported by Roger Hannigan Gilson in the Times Union, that the owners of Riverbend Dispensary at 531 Warren Street are suing the Cannabis Control Board for granting a waiver to Blaze NY, a cannabis dispensary that plans to open at 519 Columbia Street, just a block away from Riverbend. Blaze NY needed a waiver because New York State regulations require that cannabis shops be at least 2,000 feet apart in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 residents.
The waiver is not the only special treatment the proposed Blaze dispensary has received. In October 2023, the Common Council passed a resolution in support of Blaze NY's application for a cannabis dispensary license. The resolution contained this justification for Council support:
WHEREAS, the proposed business operation is a minority owned business which proposes a community plan to work with the City of Hudson to support the local Hudson community by seeking employees from the local population, reinvesting financially into the community, and creating a Community Support Committee to include official representatives of the City of Hudson. . . .
When Blaze was seeking the waiver, Mayor Kamal Johnson reportedly sent a letter of support to the Cannabis Control Board, in which he stated, "This is the type of licensee and business that corresponds to what [state legalization] purports to support, that the [state legalization] has defined that we wanted inclusivity, we wanted opportunity, we want access, and that's exactly what the letter of support means is for, and that resonated with me in this moment."
The Planning Board also seems, in its own way, to be showing its support for Blaze NY. The dispensary will be located at 519 Columbia Street. A review by the Planning Board is required because locating a dispensary in the building constitutes a change of use--from storage to mercantile.
The Planning Board made the decision not to hold a public hearing on the proposed change of use, a rather unusual move for the Planning Board which seems to hold public hearings on every project before them. At its meeting tonight, the Planning Board approved the change of use, without so much as a mention of two letters of concern that had been received about the proposal.
One of the letters was from Tina Sharpe, executive director of Columbia Opportunities, located at 540 Columbia Street. Sharpe's letter expressed concern about the proposed dispensary's proximity to Columbia Opportunities, which is a licensed daycare center, the lack of parking in the area, traffic and pedestrian safety, impact on neighborhood character, and redundancy, given that Blaze would be the third cannabis dispensary within the city limits of Hudson.
The second letter was from a homeowner and resident on the 500 block of Columbia Street who also owns a rental property on the block. The letter reiterates the concerns expressed in Sharpe's letter but adds an issue not mentioned by Sharpe: security. The following is quoted from the letter:
Due to federal banking restrictions, cannabis dispensaries primarily operate as cash businesses, creating potential security risks for our neighborhood. The presence of a high-cash-volume business could attract criminal activity, including the possibility of robberies. This security threat would place residents, nearby childcare attendees, and dispensary customers at risk, while increasing the burden on local law enforcement in what is currently a relatively peaceful residential area with little foot traffic.
Because there was no discussion of the letters, or even mention of their existence, at tonight's meeting, it is not known if members of the Planning Board, other Joyner, were aware of the concerns expressed in the letters when they voted to approve the change of use.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
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