The plodding process to grant Montclair licenses in the expanding cannabis industry received a push forward this week when the Township Council gave its approval to a fledgling cultivation company, Genuine Grow.
A unanimous vote on a resolution of support at the council’s meeting on Tuesday, April 25, granted the conditional license to the company, putting it firmly on a path to become the single legal cannabis grower in Montclair. Genuine Grow, having surmounted a number of bureaucratic obstacles – including getting approval from the Planning Board in February – has a couple of more procedural steps left. The company has a conditional license from New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission, and is now in position to receive a full annual license from the state – considered pro forma at this point. Then the process will ricochet back to Montclair for final licensing from the township.
As soon as the vote was completed, a whoop went up from the gallery, where Genuine Grow’s 27-year-old owner, Andrew Marshall, was sitting, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with a double-shadowed “G” — the outfit’s logo. The back of the shirt read, “Made In Montclair.”