Seaside Cannabis Gets Permit Extension, Expanded Hours

ORLEANS – The town’s first licensed recreational marijuana dispensary received an extension of its special permit, as well as approval for expanded hours of operation, from the zoning board of appeals last week.

 The board unanimously voted Jan. 7 in support of a three-year extension on the business’s special permit to operate at its Lots Hollow Road storefront. It also unanimously voted to allow the business to extend its hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

 Seaside Cannabis opened its doors in December 2023. The business is one of two in Orleans licensed to sell recreational marijuana. The other, Ember Gardens, opened on Route 6A near Town Cove in July 2024. 

 Dave Currier, one of the dispensary’s owners, told the zoning board that the expanded hours would help serve customers trying to purchase products before or after work. In applying for the expanded hours, he said he learned of a clause in the town bylaws that requires the dispensary to renew its special permit to operate every three years.

 Zoning board members questioned whether the three-year period begins with the board’s approval of the special permit or when the dispensary first opened for business. The board approved the special permit for Seaside Cannabis in June 2022, said board member Austin Higgins, noting that this was the first time the board has been called upon to renew a special permit for a marijuana business.

 “My concern is, do we have the authority to modify an expired special permit?” Higgins said.

 Currier, however, said he worked with the town’s planning department, including Assistant Director of Planning and Community Development Elizabeth Jenkins, who said that the business was good to go before the zoning board for consideration on the special permit and hours of operation.

 Part of the complication in the timeline stemmed from a number of legal challenges that the select board incurred upon choosing to issue licenses to Seaside and Ember Gardens in June 2021. Two companies that were passed over for a license filed injunctions against the town challenging the board’s process and methods for making their decision. Those injunctions were denied and upheld on appeal.

 “To get to that final special permit, it was a year and a half of injunctions,” Currier said. Tim McNamara, legal counsel for Seaside Cannabis, said things were further complicated following the death of Michael Marnik, who was chairing the board at the time Seaside’s special permit was approved. Marnik passed in summer 2022 as the special permit was being certified. 

 McNamara said the special permit was officially recorded with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds in 2025.

 “But they were operating well before 2025,” said Zoning Board Chair Gerard Mulligan.

 Matt Cole of the zoning board noted that the agenda and legal notice for the Jan. 7 meeting stipulated that the board would consider both the special permit extension and the request for expanded hours.

 “As we’re right at the three-year mark of the date where the clerk’s last decision was stamped, I think we should hear it tonight. That’s the way it was advertised,” he said.

 “I think we should proceed as the notice is stated,” Mulligan said in agreement.

 Currier said that Seaside has maintained a good relationship with the Orleans Police Department, and that there have been no calls for police to respond to the dispensary since the business opened. Bob Wilkinson of the zoning board added that he spoke with Police Chief Scott MacDonald, who he said supported the business’s request for a permit extension.

 The board voted in support of the expanded permit and the extended hours. The approval for extended hours is contingent upon the dispensary’s ability “to comply with other local and state regulations.”