A flood of planned new cannabis businesses may slow to a trickle, at least for now, while multiple proposals work their way through the state approval process.
The city has plans to become a cannabis capital along the East Coast, hoping the new industry can join the beaches and gaming as a draw for visitors and a source of jobs, revenue and economic development.
But at a recent meeting of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, at which multiple cannabis-related applications were up for approval, some members began to ask when enough would be enough.
At the Tuesday board meeting, CRDA President Modia Butler said the city has agreed to ease up in the short term, at least long enough for some of the already-proposed businesses to open up.
“The city’s going to put a pause to assess where they are,” Butler said. He and CRDA Director Sean Pattwell spoke with Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his team to discuss plans for the Green Zone, the overlay district where cannabis sales and cultivation are a permitted use. That zone includes a significant portion of the city.