A state Supreme Court justice ordered a Southampton marijuana dispensary to temporarily shut down Friday for operating without town approvals.
Southampton Town sought an injunction to halt Charlie Fox cannabis dispensary from operating on County Road 39 in Tuckahoe. The dispensary, which has a state license to sell marijuana, opened Sept. 16 despite a lack of town permits and approvals, Newsday previously reported.
Town code enforcement issued a cease-and-desist order once the business opened, according to court records.
“Since [Charlie Fox] continued to open, we felt that we had to bring the application for the restraining order to have him close until he gets his approvals,” Southampton Town Attorney James Burke said in a phone interview Saturday. “We had to treat them like any other business. Forget about the cannabis issue — any kind of retail business, you can’t just open without any town approvals,” he said.
Court records show the business was cited for not having site plan approval, no building permit for interior alterations, no updated certificate of occupancy and other violations. The property was previously used as a car service and repair business.
Justice Paul Hensley signed the temporary restraining order on Oct. 3 barring Charlie Fox from “the use and occupancy” of the site until at least Oct. 15, when both parties are due back in court.
Charlie Fox co-founder James Mallios confirmed Saturday that the dispensary is closed.
“That’s sort of the temporary legal timeout that we have while the court adjudicates this,” he said in a phone interview Saturday.
The court-ordered shutdown is the latest in the dispensary’s legal saga Mallios described as “unbelievably frustrating.”
In July, Newsday reported that a state error measuring distances between dispensaries and schools impacted more than 100 licensees statewide, including Charlie Fox. The state Office of Cannabis Management acknowledged it licensed dispensaries within 500 feet of schools by using door-to-door distances rather than property lines.
A court order later reversed that review, allowing Charlie Fox to move forward with its Tuckahoe store.
Taylor Randi Lee, press secretary for the OCM, previously told Newsday that while Charlie Fox meets state requirements for a license, businesses must comply with local policies to open or request a ruling from the Cannabis Control Board if they feel the rules are “unreasonably impracticable.”
Mallios sent an appeal to the board on Saturday asking for a review of Southampton’s process, which he said is “designed to frustrate” licensees.
But Burke said the town is willing to work with the dispensary on securing town approval. Mallios has submitted a formal application, which could be reviewed as soon as Thursday at the town Planning Board meeting, according to Burke.
Mallios said he hopes the court can “cut through this and apply due process” so they can open the doors for good.
