Rich Marolda Jr., a borough resident and the owner of Best Budz Buena, criticized favoring conditionally licensed applicants. He said the decision would unfairly benefit larger businesses that could more quickly complete the state licensure process, disadvantaging local farmers interested in entering the marijuana industry. He also said the duration of the solicitation period for proposals, 30 days, was too short.
“The only people who have a chance to move that quickly in the process are the larger outfits,” Marolda said.
Desmond Singh, the owner of Best Budz New Jersey, spoke in support of Marolda during the meeting, saying the borough should concentrate on supporting local entrepreneurs who are familiar with the town and have an intergenerational presence in the borough. He said the benefit given to those with conditional licenses left the borough vulnerable to having its marijuana licenses seized by larger outsiders.
“You have community here, who’s been here for 80-plus years, family’s all here, that’s going to be knocked down in these proposals, because he doesn’t have a conditional license,” Singh said. “If you only have one license, isn’t it worth the wait to support someone in your community to go through that process?”