North Hempstead, NY Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Article XXID, added in 2018, splits marijuana regulation into an outright prohibition and a narrow medical carve-out. 11 bars any building, structure or premises in any use district from operating as a marijuana retail store, dispensary or on-site consumption site for nonmedical sale, distribution or consumption, and separately bars a licensed medical dispensary site from also being used for recreational sales. 12 then permits medical marijuana dispensaries, but only in the Industrial-A, Industrial-B, Planned Industrial Park, Modified Planned Industrial Park or Hospital zoning districts, and only inside a building that also houses at least one doctor's office.

The Department of Building Safety, Inspection and Enforcement cannot approve a dispensary until its operator has state authorization under Article 33 of the Public Health Law and 10 NYCRR Part 1004, and the Town caps the total at no more than two medical marijuana dispensaries at any one time. Subsection D bars any dispensary from locating within 1,000 feet of a school, child day-care center, park or place of worship, and within 500 feet of a zoning district permitting residential use, measured from the outside wall of the dispensary nearest the boundary in question, subject to narrow carve-outs for the Hospital District's own staff housing, a Town solid-waste site in an R-AAA zone, and an adjoining Residential Open Space zone. hours, bar on-site consumption, and exclude anyone under 18 unless they are a patient, caregiver, or accompanied by a parent or guardian.