Pleasantville Bans Cannabis Businesses

PLEASANTVILLE, NY — The Pleasantville Board of Trustees voted Monday to ban cannabis businesses from the village, taking advantage of the "opt-out" clause in the state law legalizing the sale and use of marijuana.

Village officials decided they wanted neither adult-use retail cannabis dispensaries nor cannabis consumption establishments licensed or established within the village's borders.

During a discussion at a village board meeting in October, most residents who spoke said they favored the ban, The Examiner News reported. Mayor Peter Scherer said the village was uninterested in the potential for tax revenue.

The law has been passed, but it is not necessarily the last word.

The law is subject to permissive referendum, which means if any resident in the next 30 days were to mount a successful petition drive, the community would get to vote on it.

If no petition is timely filed or if a petition is filed and the law is approved, it would take effect upon filing by the office of the New York Secretary of State.