The battle over the future use of an Adamston Road property once proposed as a medical marijuana dispensary took a sharp turn over the weekend, after the attorney for the property owner filed a legal claim of default approval of its most recent site plans.
The "default," or automatic, approval claim by 385 Adamston LLC, published in the Asbury Park Press on Saturday, July 13, was made, attorney Dennis M. Galvin said, on the basis of "the failure of the Brick Township Planning Board to deem its application complete or, alternatively, to find the application incomplete with written notification to the applicant of the deficiencies within 45 days of submission of the application," according to the legal notice.
The default approval claim also comes in the wake of a decision by the Brick Township Board of Adjustment that said 385 Adamston LLC would need to seek a use variance to grow lettuce in an enclosed building — a decision Galvin called improper in the legal notice.
Under a "default approval," the owner of a property can move forward with plans if the planning or zoning boards fail to meet certain deadlines.
Requests for comment from Howard Hensel, the Brick planning board attorney, from Ronald Cucchiaro, the zoning board attorney, and from Edward Liston, the attorney representing residents who oppose development at the site, were not immediately returned Monday.