The Board of Commissioners and the Planning Board have prohibited recreational cannabis establishments.
Mayor Brian Stack, who is also a State Senator for the 33rd Legislative District, which included Union City, defended the decision when the ordinances were introduced in April, despite voting in favor of the legislation legalizing recreational cannabis in New Jersey in the state senate.
“As a State Senator, I voted in support of the legislation because a majority of New Jerseyans are in favor of it,” Stack said in a statement. “As a mayor, I get dozens of calls a week concerning people smoking marijuana and other issues surrounding quality of life. Union City is just too densely populated to become a location for recreational sales.”
The move to ban recreational cannabis establishments comes at time when many municipalities in the county are debating how to handle the new industry. Years before November’s referendum passed, Union City was one of three municipalities that preemptively banned the sale of recreational cannabis, Secaucus and Weehawken were the others.