The plan is intended to give the city time to develop zoning that would restrict future cannabis store locations. A public hearing for proposed moratorium was held during Monday’s council meeting, with no residents providing comments on the proposal.

The 90-day moratorium could now come up for a vote during the Nov. 12 council meeting and, if enacted, would prevent new cannabis stores from submitting new applications for building permits, land use approvals and certificates of occupancy for the period between November 14 and February 11.

The moratorium would not affect current cannabis dispensaries operating in the city or prospective cannabis businesses that submit their applications for construction permits or certificates of use by Nov. 13.

The council previously adopted a 90-day moratorium on tobacco and vape shops in March and expanded the measure in June before adopting zoning which restricts the future location of tobacco stores to four business and manufacturing zoning districts in the city.

City Council President Marion Porterfield said after Monday’s meeting that the council plans to move forward with the proposed moratorium. The corporation counsel’s office is working with the council to craft zoning restrictions for cannabis stores, an effort that began last year.

“We’ll move forward,” Porterfield said. “For those people who are already in the process, this will not apply to them. “If they already have locations and all that, that won’t apply to them.”

State regulations prohibit cannabis dispensaries from being located within 500 feet of a school, on the same street as a school, within 200 feet of a place of worship, or within 1,000 feet of another cannabis dispensary.

Under state regulations, municipalities may adopt local laws establishing the permitted location of cannabis dispensaries in a given municipality, as long as the restrictions do not conflict with state law.

The 90-day moratorium on tobacconists was extended for another 90 days in early June before the council approved its zoning restrictions later that month.

Porterfield said that, with city attorneys working on an overlay zoning map for cannabis zoning, the council hopes to adopt its zoning during the initial 90-day moratorium.

“They’ve been working on it for quite some time,” Porterfield said. “Hopefully we can achieve this so that our moratorium does not exceed 90 days.”

According to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), there are seven active cannabis licenses in Schenectady in various stages of development and eight additional licenses pending.

The city is projected to collect $850,000 in cannabis excise tax revenue in 2025, up from $300,000 the previous year, with Upstate Canna Co. at the top of Union Street being the first store to open in the city in March of 2023.

People’s Joint cannabis dispensary at 501 State St. opened in September in a prime downtown location, and the council revived the process to enact cannabis zoning a month later.

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