The ordinance is restricted only to recreational sales and cultivation, and its effects – if any – on a proposed medical dispensary and grow house off Adamston Road are unknown. The controversial medical marijuana facility has drawn outrage from neighboring residents and, in recent weeks, has become a personal battle between the residents and owners of the proposed facility – devolving to threats of litigation and police reports filed for harassment.
The governor's promise to legalize the use of recreational marijuana has made residents across the state call for towns to ban it. But Brick officials said they wanted to hold off on making any decisions until there was some clear information on where the state was headed on the topic.
Town officials have apparently decided the time to act is now: an ordinance is on the agenda for a first reading at Tuesday's Township Council meeting to ban recreational marijuana in the Brick.
The Township Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would ban the sale, cultivation and manufacturing of marijuana for recreational use.
Mayor John G. Ducey confirmed that the Township Council would vote on the ordinance at its regular meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. in town hall at 401 Chambers Bridge Road.
The legalization of recreational marijuana, however, hasn’t been the top issue of its kind in Brick. Instead, a proposal to build a medical marijuana dispensary and grow house in a residential zone has stirred up the most controversy. But the medical marijuana proposal could be the first of many to appear before the township’s zoning board should a recreational market be created in New Jersey.
Brick Township Mayor Ducey has not taken much of a stance on many issues of late, citing his political independence, but when asked last week on his “Facebook Live” session with residents about a public referendum on this year’s election ballot for the sale of marijuana in his town, Ducey ecstatically approved.
“I would love a public referendum, that would be an awesome idea,” Ducey told resident. “We would be able to do that next election…it’s something that we’re definitely looking at.”
The last-minute discovery of a major issue regarding the notices sent to residents near a proposed medical marijuana dispensary and grow house in Brick led to another postponement of the application for Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care (JSTHC) to build its facility.