NORTHVILLE — A small strip of Northville could soon become zoned for cannabis dispensaries.
A proposal to contain pot retail businesses within the village’s commercial district is pending legal review. The area includes half of Bridge Street and a northern slice of Main Street.
“We just tried to make it so that we're a part of it, but responsibly a part of it,” said Mayor Sue Eckert.
Officials are waiting for Village Attorney Carm Greco to finish up looking over the language of the final proposal. It was passed on to the Murphy-Niles & Greco firm lawyer in December.
“Obviously, it's dependent upon what our attorney advises us and whether we may need to make revisions,” Eckert said.
Northville was one of 12 municipalities in Fulton County to opt into cannabis sales following the legalization of recreational cannabis for adults 21 years and older in 2021.
Talks over zoning the new industry have been ongoing in the village since 2022. Much of the process so far has been in the hands of the Northville Planning Board, tasked with crafting recommendations for village trustees.
The process was contingent on the state Office of Cannabis Management establishing firmer regulations, according to Village Clerk Wendy Reu.
“We really needed to wait until we definitively had that, so we could know how to move forward with it,” Reu said.
The Johnstown Common Council last week enacted provisions designed to contain dispensaries along the Mayor Harvey W. Mansfield Highway commercial hub. Currently, Johnstown is the only municipality in the Land of 44 Lakes with retail cannabis regulations on the books.
Gloversville planning officials are currently in the process of crafting zoning recommendations for the city administration. Currently, Gloversville only has restrictions on cannabis manufacturing.
“We're looking at it from a production standpoint,” Fulton County Planner Aaron Enfield said. “However, under site plan review, there now is a question that asks ‘Is a portion of a portion of your project going to have a retail [cannabis] component?’”
The first round of general adult-use cannabis licenses were announced under a lottery system in February. The system launched last fall.
All applicants were required to notify municipalities. Gloversville received more than five notices and Johnstown received one.
Northville — a village of some 1,000 residents — didn’t receive any notices.
“Would one come to Northville? Highly unlikely, but because we opted in, we have to make our zoning reflective of that,” Reu said.
Even within the commercial district, state-based limitations narrow down the scope of potential pot businesses. Under OCM guidelines, dispensaries are barred from operating within 500 feet of a school and 200 feet of a place of worship.