Middle Township will introduce an ordinance on July 7 to ban, at least temporarily, all classes of recreational cannabis licenses.
According to a release, the township has supported the pending application of the Insa medical cannabis facility in the municipality and sought public input on permitting dispensaries, but the complexities of state legislation leave too many questions for the township to proceed at this time.
Donohue reiterated the municipality’s support for INSA, a vertically integrated Massachusetts company engaged in the cultivation, manufacture, sale and distribution of cannabis.
The company has plans for a medical marijuana dispensary on the site of the former La Monica plant. The legalization of recreational cannabis in New Jersey led company executives to expand their plans for the site to include the cultivation and distribution of cannabis to other retail outlets outside the municipality.
In the meantime, municipalities like Cape May, Middle Township, and Avalon have until Aug. 27 to decide the best course of action in the best interest of their community.
“We have 180 days to review the new law,” said Cape May's Interim City Manager Michael Voll. “It’s a whole new challenge for us. We are a law-and-order community, but we are open-minded. We will review what we can permit, prohibit and allow while protecting the health and safety of our community.”
As part of the Middle Township’s ongoing efforts to boost job creation and economic development, Mayor Timothy Donohue, Administrator Kimberly Krauss and a group of township department heads met in early July with the principal owners of INSA, a cannabis cultivation and distribution company based in Massachusetts.
According to a release, INSA is a multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis company that has been in operation since 2017. They have operations in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.