EXCLUSIVE · TOWN HALL · NORTH BABYLON

A company called WAO Industries LLC wants to open an adult-use cannabis dispensary at 1258 Deer Park Avenue in North Babylon, on the west side of the avenue, about 300 feet north of Woods Road. The Town of Babylon Zoning Board of Appeals will hear the application on Thursday, November 12, according to the board’s hearing notice, dated October 19.

What it asks for. The notice lists three requests. The first is to allow a retail recreational marijuana dispensary in a Business EA and Residence C zone, which the notice calls “a non-permitted use.” The second is to cut the required distance from a residential area from 750 feet to zero. The third is to cut the required distance from a place where minors congregate from 500 feet to 285 feet. The notice does not say what that place is. WAO Industries would be the tenant. The property owner is listed as Helm Development Corporation.

Why it stands out. Babylon is one of the few Long Island towns that opted in to recreational cannabis sales, as the New York State Bar Association reported in 2024. The Town writes its dispensary location rules into its industrial-district code. Since Local Law 4 of 2024, the lot line of a dispensary may not be within 750 feet of a residential area.

The dispensary cases the Zoning Board has heard this year asked to shrink that buffer, not erase it. In January, an applicant for a site on Grand Boulevard in Deer Park asked to go from 750 feet to 460. In March, the same company asked for 420 feet on Broad Hollow Road in East Farmingdale. Both sites are zoned Industry G, and both asked for a special exception permit. The North Babylon application is different on both counts. It is outside an industrial zone, so the use itself needs the Board’s permission, and it asks for no buffer at all.

What we don’t know yet. The notice gives no store name, size or hours, and says nothing about a state license. We found no other reporting on the plan.

How to be heard. The Board meets at 6 p.m. in the Town Board Room, East Wing, Town Hall, 200 East Sunrise Highway, Lindenhurst. This application is sixth of seven, at the 6:25 p.m. slot, and cases are heard in the order advertised. It is a public hearing, so neighbors may come and speak for or against it.

Sources: Town of Babylon Zoning Board of Appeals, Notice of Public Hearing, November 12, 2026 · Town of Babylon, Local Law No. 4 of 2024 · ZBA notice, January 29, 2026 · ZBA notice, March 19, 2026 · NYSBA, “Commercial Cannabis Sales Bring Big Bucks to a Long Island Town,” Jan. 18, 2024

Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels. Stock photo.