Di Croce, whose long-held vision has been to make Shamong the “pot growing capital of New Jersey,” both to increase ratables and job opportunities, as well as lower or eliminate altogether local property taxes, last served as township mayor in 2020, when he worked to help establish the Cannabis Subcommittee in December of that year, which has since helped form the current local zoning regulations for cannabis, and recommended to the governing body where cannabis operations should be a permitted land use.
Martin Mozitis, a 14-year township committeeman, was appointed Jan. 3 as the township’s deputy mayor.
Appearing on a township committee agenda was a resolution that would have denied a letter of support for Grass State Nutrition to establish a cannabis operation on Old Indian Mills Road.
The reason the resolution appeared on the agenda, according to Onorato, is that the property that the firm was interested in setting up shop at, said to be somewhere on Old Indian Mills Road, is actually outside the areas currently designated by the township for cannabis enterprises.
Di Croce was ultimately successful in convincing his colleagues to “table” the measure, however, not because he necessarily agreed with the location, but because he did not want to send a message to the firm that they weren’t welcome in town ahead of a meeting that he revealed had been scheduled at his law office.
“I am meeting with these people and they are a large manufacturer of vitamins and minerals and indicated through their lawyer that, ‘We want to come to Shamong,’” Di Croce said.
While Onorato pointed out the resolution addresses “one specific property,” Di Croce suggested the firm is open to other alternatives.
