Cannabis may soon join corn, tomatoes and cranberries among Burlington County’s most sought-after crops if a Monmouth County company gains approval to build a large solar-powered greenhouse on a Bunting Bridge Road farm for the purpose of cultivating the plant for medical marijuana.
Rumson-based Panacea, Inc. has filed an application with the New Hanover Land Use Board to build the 51,408-square-foot greenhouse and operations building and adjacent solar fields on the 197-acre parcel. The application specifies that the site would be used for growing and processing medical marijuana and would not include a dispensary, where medical marijuana is sold to patients who are registered with the state and issued a prescription to purchase and use the drug.
A hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Oct. 2 at New Hanover Town Hall.
If approved, the facility would likely become the first marijuana farm to gain local approval in Burlington County, although possibly not the last.
Lumberton’s governing body was scheduled to consider introducing a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would clarify that marijuana cultivation is a permitted use in the township’s industrial zone.