{"id":114723,"date":"2025-08-03T04:26:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T04:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114723\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T04:26:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T04:26:29","slug":"family-run-tribeca-dispensary-among-89-nyc-shops-in-limbo-after-cannabis-law-misstep-hochul-vows-no-closures-amid-scramble-for-legislative-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/114723\/","title":{"rendered":"Family-run Tribeca dispensary among 89 NYC shops in limbo after cannabis law misstep; Hochul vows no closures amid scramble for legislative fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> is promising that 89 licensed cannabis dispensaries in New York City, and dozens more statewide, will not be forced to shut down after the state\u2019s Office of Cannabis Management<\/a> (OCM) announced that those retail dispensary locations are out of compliance with the state\u2019s proximity rules.<\/p>\n

The OCM informed the 152 cannabis businesses and license applicants statewide on Monday that, following an internal review, the state body had not been properly applying the\u00a0law that prohibits any cannabis retail storefront from operating within 500 feet of school grounds or 200 feet of a house of worship.<\/p>\n

Since its inception in 2022, OCM has been using an incorrect method to assess the dispensary\u2019s distance from school grounds: measuring from entrance to entrance.\n<\/p>\n

Under the corrected approach and stricter interpretation of the 2021 Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, OCM is now measuring the distance as a straight line from the dispensary\u2019s main entrance to the nearest school property line.<\/p>\n

As a result, 44 retail applicants and 108 licensed businesses across the state were notified that their proposed or current locations do not comply with the law, leaving them in limbo to wait for a resolution or search for alternative premises.<\/p>\n

The majority of those affected are in the five boroughs, with 38 applicants and 89 licensees located in non-compliant zones.\n<\/p>\n

For Alto<\/a>, a family-run dispensary in Tribeca, a miscalculation of fewer than 20 feet has pushed them out of compliance with state cannabis law \u2014 leaving the Savocchi family blindsided and grappling with the possibility of having to rebuild their business from the ground up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got the email at like, three minutes to five this past Monday, and I couldn\u2019t even believe what I was reading,\u201d said Andr\u00e9 Savocchi, one of five siblings who opened Alto alongside their parents last Labor Day weekend.\u00a0 \u201cI was silent for the rest of the day; it just didn\u2019t seem real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe exterior of Alto, a family-owned cannabis dispensary, is seen at 110 Chambers St. in Tribeca on Aug. 1 Photo by Adam Daly<\/p>\n

The Savocchi family said they followed the rules to the letter, navigated the state\u2019s complex cannabis laws,\u00a0 and turned a shuttered bar that had sat vacant for two years into a sleek dispensary.<\/p>\n

Renovations were extensive and expensive. \u201cThe air conditioning alone was over $100,000,\u201d Sandra, the family\u2019s matriarch, said, adding that the building had to be converted to electric due to a gas leak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told us, yes,\u201d Sandra recalled. \u201cThe OCM had to measure and tell us, \u2018Yes, this is a viable location. You can proceed.\u201d Now, they will have to wait at least another five months before they know their fate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still having sleepless nights,\u201d she said, despite assurances from the state.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Alto operates under a 12-year lease with a five-year extension option and recently took on six non-family staff members amid its growing customer base.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to stay in the location we built, the one that was approved from the beginning,\u201d Andr\u00e9 said. He recalled the difficulty of securing a compliant location and a landlord willing to lease to a cannabis business, noting that many had federal mortgage restrictions.<\/p>\n

The idea of relocating now, he said, \u201cseems like it would be impossible.\u201d
\n\"TheThe family-run cannabis shop features floral arrangements and other welcoming touches near the security check-in area Photo by Adam Daly\n<\/p>\n

Since news broke Monday, Gov. Hochul has been steadfast in assuring those affected that they will \u201cnot be punished for the failures of past OCM leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt her direction, the State is taking immediate action to support cannabis store owners impacted by this issue,\u201d a spokesperson for the Governor said. \u201cWe are laser-focused on making sure these small business owners, who have poured their heart and soul into these shops, aren\u2019t left paying the price for the previous leadership\u2019s screw-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a senior official in Hochul\u2019s office, the governor was briefed on the situation recently and \u201cfurious\u201d about the impact on small businesses. She reportedly convened staff immediately after learning of the problem and directed OCM to find a resolution \u201cwith the least amount of harm possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the governor\u2019s direction, OCM on Monday released an advisory assuring current license holders that no renewal decisions will be made until lawmakers can consider a fix, which could possibly be when the state legislature convenes at the beginning of next year.<\/p>\n

The Savocchi family remains hopeful. They say they\u2019ve received a supportive phone call from OCM staff and feel that the state body wants to do right by them, even as uncertainty weighs\u00a0on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s torturous,\u201d Sandra added. \u201cA waiting game. You don\u2019t know which way to go.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u2018Lawsuits all the way down\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The OCM stated that for license holders who are due to renew during the limbo period, the State Administrative Produce Act will allow them to operate under the expired license if they submit their renewal application \u201ctimely and sufficient.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOCM will consider a renewal application \u2018timely\u2019 if the licensee submits for renewal on or before the date their license expires,\u201d according to an advisory<\/a>. \u201cOCM will consider the licensee\u2019s renewal application \u201csufficient\u201d if there are no significant deficiencies in the application. If such conditions are met, the OCM will consider such a licensee eligible to continue operating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul also directed the creation of a $15 million applicant relief program, which offers up to $250,000 in assistance to impacted applicants who have not yet opened.\n<\/p>\n

That program does not apply to current licensees, though the governor said she is committed to ensuring none are \u201cpunished\u201d for the \u201cscrew-up\u201d of prior OCM leadership.\n<\/p>\n

Speaking to NY1 yesterday<\/a>, Governor Hochul was asked whether existing dispensaries could be grandfathered in through an exemption to the current proximity statute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to do that,\u201d Hochul responded. \u201cI don\u2019t want them hurt. They\u2019re part of our community already, they\u2019re working hard, they waited a long time for this, and, basically, I don\u2019t want them screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gov.Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference in 2023 about the results of statewide enforcement actions against unlicensed cannabis businesses. Photo by Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n

The OCM did not immediately respond to a request for comment or to provide the names and locations of impacted businesses, though Gothamist previously published<\/a> the full list.<\/p>\n

The body stated that it will propose and actively pursue legislation that would allow affected licensees to remain at their current locations. However, the agency emphasized that passage of the proposed legislation is at the discretion of the state Legislature and \u201cnot a guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Legislature does not amend the law or amends the law in a fashion that does not remedy a license location\u2019s noncompliance with the Cannabis Law, the renewal application must be
denied,\u201d the advisory reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given the uncertainty, Jeffrey Hoffman, a cannabis attorney whose clients are among the affected, believes the OCM and Cannabis Control Board will be on the hook for \u201csignificant damages\u201d over the faux pas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why they are trying to get out in front of it, admitting their error, and offering something to those impacted,\u201d Hoffman told amNewYork.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

When asked about the legal course of the affected licensees and applicants, Hoffman predicts there will be \u201clawsuits all the way down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state has significant exposure to liability. A legislative fix may work, but it\u2019s not clear to me that it\u2019s a certainty,\u201d he said, noting that at the moment, open stores are not guaranteed they will be able to renew their licenses at their current locations, while applicants who had proximity protection at now non-viable locations will not be able to open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are not very well capitalized, this might be the end of the road for them,\u201d Hoffman said of the implications for cannabis entrepreneurs, many of whom spent years navigating bureaucratic hurdles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine being locked into a 10-year lease or worse, having bought a building at a location you can no longer use,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Kathy Hochul is promising that 89 licensed cannabis dispensaries in New York City, and dozens more statewide,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1749,5371,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,72074,19603,24672,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-114723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-cannabis","10":"tag-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-nys-office-of-cannabis-management","18":"tag-ocm","19":"tag-pm-newsletter","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114962942275300445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}