BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Village officials are working on a local law to help govern the establishment of marijuana dispensaries in the village to hopefully give the municipality a better grip on planning and permitting of the shops.

However, due to the state’s involvement in establishing and licensing marijuana businesses, the village may not be able to exert much influence on the process.

Trustee Alexandra Jacobs Wilke brought up the issue at the board’s Monday, April 17 meeting, asking if the village could set a public hearing on the local law governing cannabis businesses.

“Because as I mentioned, we are having issues downtown with illicit sales which is unfair to legitimate businesses coming through the new law,” Wilke said.

Concerns about possible unlicensed marijuana sales at a downtown head shop in the village were raised by a town resident at the Town of Potsdam board meeting last week.

At the same meeting, the Town of Potsdam passed a law on the establishment of cannabis businesses, in the wake of learning a marijuana dispensary may be located in the former Olympia Sports store next door to Tractor Supply. However, the process is still largely governed by the state, not municipalities that have limited control.

Village Administrator Greg Thompson said the local law the village is working on still needs work. Village Code Enforcement Lisa Newby said the law still needs to be reviewed by the planning board as well.

“So if the planning board were to give a recommendation to the village board on the local law and we had it in the proper format, we just need at least the 10 days to get into the newspaper,” said Village Clerk Lori Queor. “So it all depends on timing.”

Wilke urged expediency on the issue and didn’t think the village should wait until the May meeting to set the hearing on the local law.

“I’m very concerned about the cannabis bill, that we just get it passed, so the person that is trying to site in the village through the legitimate process is able to,” Wilke said.

Thompson said that although the town has said “adamantly” that municipalities need to have a law on the books, he said the village attorney and the county planning department has advised that a local law at the village level is not necessary.

“This cannabis law, in order to regulate where you can have them, that’s already set up by the state in order for them to get their license,” Newby said. “For instance, anyone that has received their cannabis license at this point, they have to give their location where they want to set up. (The state) does all the distance measuring from churches, schools and then they will approve that site.”

“This is all done through their state licensing,” Newby said.

Thompson said a village law can regulate times of operation and in what zone they can be located, but the village has to be very cautious that their law is not trying to “choke” a business out of neighborhoods with its regulation.

Newby clarified that as a code enforcement officer she cannot regulate or cite unlicensed marijuana businesses, and if an unlicensed seller is reported to the state the phone call gets bounced around with little resolution.

“Then I would count that, personally, as an argument towards getting it in our code,” Wilke said.

The village board agreed to hold a special meeting for April 24 at 6 p.m. at which they are expected to set a public hearing.