A Dispensary Next to a Daycare? The Fight Over Croton's First Cannabis Shop

{{openverse:cannabis dispensary:Cannabis dispensary storefront}} The application arrived without fanfare: a change-of-use filing with the Engineering Department to convert a convenience store into something the village has never had before. If approved, the Dairy Mart at 370 South Riverside Avenue would become Croton-on-Hudson's first cannabis dispensary. The applicant's identity has not been publicly disclosed by village officials, a point that has drawn criticism from local press. What is known is the location: a C-2 commercial zone in the Harmon section of the village, along the busy corridor that runs parallel to the Metro-North tracks. What is also known, and what makes this application immediately contentious, is what sits next door. **The Daycare Question** Happy Hearts Take Two, a licensed childcare center at 365 South Riverside Avenue, serves children from six weeks old through age twelve, five days a week. It operates directly adjacent to the proposed dispensary site. New York's cannabis law prohibits dispensaries within 500 feet of school grounds. The critical legal question is whether Happy Hearts qualifies as a "school" under the statute. Village Manager Bryan Healy told the Board of Trustees that "New York State has determined that the proposed location meets applicable distance requirements." But the regulatory landscape is shifting. In February 2026, Albany changed how the 500-foot buffer is measured, switching from property lines to building entrances on the same street. And pending state legislation, Senate Bill 7275, would explicitly add child daycare centers to the list of protected facilities. If enacted, the bill could retroactively complicate the application. Chris Roose, a resident who commented on the Croton Chronicle's coverage, urged the village to proactively amend its own code: "We should not have to wait for Albany to protect our children." **Why Croton Said Yes (By Saying Nothing)** The backstory stretches to 2021, when New York gave every municipality a binary choice: opt out of cannabis retail by December 31, or accept it permanently. Croton's Board of Trustees took a split approach. On September 20, 2021, they voted unanimously to ban on-site consumption lounges. But they deliberately chose not to opt out of retail dispensaries. The reasoning behind that decision has not been extensively documented in public minutes. Trustee Stacey Nachtaler, who joined the Board in December 2025, has noted in public comments that the opt-out decision predated her service. But she and every future board will live with its consequences: the village cannot revisit the decision. Cannabis retail is permanently permitted in Croton's commercial zones. **The Revenue Mirage** Proponents of cannabis retail often point to tax revenue. New York imposes a 13% retail excise tax, of which 3% flows directly to the host municipality. If a single Croton dispensary generates \ million in annual sales, the village would receive approximately ,000 per year. But recent experience in the Hudson Valley suggests caution. Peekskill projected (,000 in cannabis tax revenue and received just 8,000. Valley Greens, that city's first dispensary, reported making only \,000 in profit during its first month. Its owner, Shane Jackson, complained that the city allowed too many dispensaries to open: "Everyone is misinformed about how profitable these businesses are." For Croton, with an annual property tax levy of roughly .4 million, one dispensary would add less than half a percent to village revenues. **The Croton Native Who Went to Ossining** There is one more wrinkle worth noting. In November 2025, Ryan LoGiudici, a Croton-Harmon High School graduate, opened "Up the River" at 34 Main Street in neighboring Ossining. He described it as a "full circle moment of returning to the place and community where I was born and raised." But LoGiudici opened in Ossining, not Croton. Whether that reflects the village's regulatory environment, available real estate, or personal preference is unclear. But the fact that a hometown entrepreneur with a decade of cannabis industry experience chose to set up shop one town over raises its own questions. **What Happens Next** The Planning Board was scheduled to take up the application on April 14. Under Croton's zoning code, cannabis shops are a permitted use in C-2 districts. The change-of-use review is procedural, not discretionary, meaning the Board's latitude to deny the application may be limited. Public comments can be directed to Planning Board Secretary Karen Stapleton at kstapleton@crotononhudson-ny.gov. The question is not whether Croton will eventually have a cannabis dispensary. The village settled that in 2021 when it let the opt-out deadline pass. The question now is whether this particular dispensary, at this particular location, next to this particular daycare, is where the story begins.