Union, NY Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Article 35 of the Town of Union zoning chapter creates the Cannabis Business Overlay (CBO) District, added 4-20-2022 by L.L. No. 03-2022. The Town Board decides where the overlay sits, and the code states the overlay is meant for locations that are not in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. A retail dispensary is the only use § 300-35.2 allows, and it is a specially permitted use, either as a principal use or as an accessory use with other permitted businesses. The Planning Board can approve it, approve it with conditions, or disapprove it at its discretion.

The distance rule sits in § 300-35.2(B)(1) and covers dispensaries for all types of adult-use cannabis, recreational and medical alike. Two separate 500-foot tests apply. The first bars a dispensary within 500 feet of a school or park. The second bars one within 500 feet of any lot or parcel occupied by a hospital, library, or church. Subsection (c) fixes the method: all measurements are made between nearest respective lot lines, not from building to building.

The same subsection adds operating conditions that sit alongside the buffers. No cannabis can be dispensed between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. unless New York State regulates the hours more strictly. Signage must follow the underlying zoning district, no symbol of cannabis can be displayed within view of any public street, and § 300-35.2(C) prohibits retail dispensary signage except as authorized by the Cannabis Control Board. The map and property description of the two overlay districts are on file in the Town offices.

Separately, Chapter 91 of the Town Code, adopted 12-15-2021 by L.L. No. 01-2022, opts the Town out of hosting on-site cannabis consumption establishments under Cannabis Law § 131, and the code notes no valid petition for referendum was filed.