Brick Township’s planning board, zoning board and the township as a whole is being sued by the owners of the former bank property originally proposed as a medical marijuana dispensary and grow house.
The company, 385 Adamston LLC, eventually scaled back their proposal to include only the 48,000 square-foot grow house, then reversed course and changed the proposal to retain the grow house, but cultivate lettuce and leafy greens instead of cannabis. In May, the zoning board ruled that indoor farming is not allowed in the Rural Residential zone, where the facility is located. The township’s zoning ordinance allows “customary and conventional” farming in that zone, but includes no definition of “customary and conventional,” which forced the board to hold a determination hearing. At that hearing, the board voted unanimously to determine that indoor farming does not meet the definition and 385 Adamston, also known as Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care, must obtain a use variance in order to build their facility.