Photo by Anthony DolceKathy Greene stands in front of her smoke shop and liquor store at Route 39 and Route 20 in Sheridan. Greene will soon be moving her smoke shop to a different town. Photo by Anthony Dolce

SHERIDAN — At the end of 2021, the Town Board elected to opt out of allowing marijuana dispensaries and on-site consumption centers within the town limits.

As so many other municipalities have noted, officials from the town of Sheridan determined that guidelines were not properly laid out for them to make an informed decision, and opting out will give them the time to see how it works for other villages.

“It’s better to opt out and to understand what rules the state will make, rather than saying OK to something that is unclear,” said town Supervisor John Walker.

But there are some residents who were ready to at least see dispensaries within the town limits. Susan Bigler and Kathy Greene, who owns Sheridan Wine and Liquor at Routes 39 and 20, are two such individuals.

Greene, in particular, has an interest in operating a dispensary, and originally remodeled the convenience store she operated in the front of her liquor store into a smoke shop. However, because she can’t sell the main product she needs to, she’s moving her smoke shop to a municipality where she will be allowed to sell marijuana.

Greene has been in Sheridan since 2015 and has been operating the liquor store and the former convenient store for the last several years as well. But to continue operating the convenient store, Greene said, it would have meant more storage space that she did not have.

Due to her success with the business, Greene believes the new operation would have benefit the town. It is why she is keeping the liquor store in Sheridan. “My success is the town’s success and the people of Sheridan’s success,” Greene said. “I’m a hard worker and my employees are hard workers. We keep it clean and organized.”

Greene said she maintained a friendly petition in the liquor store to present to the Town Board in recent months. Within a few weeks, Green said she had “hundreds” of signatures — some of which came from Sheridan residents, while others came from visitors from other area who came into the liquor store. She did this to attempt to show the town the business there could work.

“We took this to the board meeting in the beginning of December,” Greene said. “We made copies and left the originals with the town to show them this could be very successful and bring a lot of needed funds to town. I’m a responsible business owner and I think putting a cannabis shop in here would be very worthwhile for the community and the town of Sheridan.”

While Greene said the Town Board heard her case and was receptive to it, the decision to opt out seemed to have been made already. But Greene and Bigler are hoping that town officials remains receptive to the idea as they look to potentially change their minds sooner.

“We wanted to get people to support the Greenes and their business,” Bigler said. “And to know what’s going on and hopefully get support for them. … Regardless of everyone’s opinion on cannabis, which is legal, the business should be supported.”

Greene said the business would be a good way to generate commerce in the town, both with residents and those who come from out of town. Additionally, the store location is in an area that gets a good amount of traffic, making it the perfect location for a potential dispensary. Greene also thinks her relationship with the town in the past should help her in this case.

“Everything I had worked with the town on over the years, I’ve kept my word on,” Greene said. “One of their fears might be that this would turn into a party corner, but that would not be the case. They don’t want on-site consumption and I agree with them. This would strictly be a buy and take place, not meant for on site.”

While Bigler and Greene understand the board’s decision, they are really hoping for a change of heart.

Walker recently said he spoke with several Sheridan residents to gauge the interest of the town, but Bigler said she wants to be sure the decision reflects a larger cross section of residents. “Do we know if this accurately reflects a cross section of Sheridan residents?” Bigler said. “Opting in would be the best way to obtain more information.”

And while Greene understands the town is looking out for itself, she said the people who want to open dispensaries would be the ones taking the most risk, which is something she knows from experience.

“I totally get the concern but personally, dealing with liquor authorities has taught me that the state is very tough with their rules and laws,” she said. “You don’t dare mess up. There are fines and punishments. When everybody says they don’t know what the state is going to do, the people in fear should be the ones selling.”

Walker said there wasn’t any staunch opposition from the board, and remained open to opting in should they believe it’s a suitable course of action for the town.

Residents such as Greene and Bigler are hoping that happens sooner rather than later. And should the Sheridan Town Board elect to change their mind, Greene gave a definite answer as to if she would come back.

“Absolutely.”