Kingston’s marijuana advisory board will meet tomorrow to discuss how adult-use cannabis dispensaries, consumption lounges and other weed-related business will be incorporated into the city’s new zoning code. While the meeting was planned to be held at City Hall, it will be virtual-only due to the expected winter weather.

The nine-member MRTA Advisory Board (named for the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act of 2021, which legalized adult-use cannabis in New York) was appointed by Mayor Steve Noble and the Common Council last year to study, discuss and engage with the public on the implementation of adult-use cannabis sales in the city.

The meeting comes as the city prepares to present a final draft of a new zoning code that will entirely replace Kingston’s current 60-years-old code. Last year Corporation Counsel Barbara Graves-Poller told lawmakers that while most details of how adult-use marijuana sales will operate are codified in state law and regulations promulgated by the state Cannabis Control Board, municipalities will have some discretion about where pot shops can be located. Like alcohol-serving establishments, adult use dispensaries cannot operate within 500 feet of a school or 200 feet of a house of worship. The law also places restrictions on cannabis advertising within 500 feet or where it can be readily observed from schools, playgrounds, daycare centers, libraries and public parks.

The new zoning code, with input from the city’s marijuana board, is expected to lay out where dispensaries and advertisements will be permitted in the city. To assist the board, Wednesday’s meeting will include city Director of Housing Initiatives Bartek Starodaj.

“Bartek is spearheading Kingston’s citywide rezoning and is highly knowledgeable about zoning and community development issues in general,” wrote Jonathan Clark, a law student working with the city’s Corporation Counsel’s Office, in an email to board members. “He will be able to provide insight into both steps that the city has already taken or considered, as well as how the city can approach implementing new ideas the task force generates.”

In addition to weighing in on potential locations for pot shops, the local marijuana board is also expected to make recommendations on how to use proceeds from a 4 percent local tax on adult use cannabis sales (in addition to a 9 percent state tax). State law mandates that the funds be used in line with the legislation’s social equity provisions which stress helping communities of color most impacted by the War on Drugs.

While the Kingston cannabis board works out where weed shops may be located, it remains uncertain when the first adult-use dispensaries will open in the city. A lawsuit by a Michigan-based company and subsequent federal court injunction has put a hold on the issuance of adult-use retail licenses in five of 14 administrative regions designated by state regulators, including the Mid-Hudson Valley. The lawsuit contends that a provision in the MRTA that requires licensees to be based in or have close ties to New York violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. The state’s Cannabis Control Board has filed an appeal to have the freeze on retail licenses in the Hudson Valley lifted while the case plays out in federal court.

The MRTA Advisory Board meeting will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. virtually via Zoom. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel. For information on how to participate virtually, click here.