1000 Foot Buffer Requirement

A cannabis store could move in next to Red Bank Liquors after the planning board voted to approve the site Monday night. But the store, named Canopy Crossroad, would still require a borough license before opening.

The store at 9 West St. is one of three cannabis retail stores that have been put before a borough land use board.

Andy Zeitlin and Caryn Cohen, a Middletown husband and wife team and owners of Canopy Crossroads, LLC, will continue their application to open a cannabis retail outlet at 9 West Street, in an empty building adjoining Red Bank Liquors.

At a May 1 Planning Board meeting, several comments from the public focused on the location of the retail cannabis store, near the Red Bank Charter School that is within 1,000 feet of the proposed store.

The Red Bank Planning Board of Adjustment rejected at their Monday night meeting the borough’s incomplete cannabis zoning law as it did not meet the requirements of the Master Plan. The Board approved the Master Plan in early February.

The proposed changes, which include a ban on marijuana retailing within 1,000 feet of schools, “please no one,” but must be adopted, their lead sponsor told a sharply divided audience at a special legislative session.

The proposed zoning would kill a plan by Andy Zeitlin and Caryn Cohen, below, to open a dispensary next to a liquor store on West Street, above. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

On the agenda for the special session was a proposed overhaul of the 2021 zoning law to limit where cannabis businesses, from cultivation to retail sales, can operate.

Potential marijuana business owners were not happy after the Borough Council voted to introduce ordinances that would further restrict where cannabis businesses can be established and create a process for reviewing and approving such businesses.

The proposed changes drew alarm from multiple business owners, such as Caryn Cohen and Andy Zeitlin with Canopy Crossroads, who applied for a conditional license from the state immediately when applications were open. The couple said they hoped to open a boutique cannabis store near Red Bank Liquors.

Nearly two years after the borough legalized the sale and manufacturing of marijuana within its boundaries, the Borough Council is proposing to change its rules regarding where cannabis businesses can be established and how many cannabis businesses it would allow.

The special meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at borough hall or on Zoom.

The current borough ordinance does not have a limit on the number of cannabis businesses, but restricts its operations based on a map with buffer zones drawn around schools, playgrounds and the borough’s public housing.

There are currently seven businesses going through the state application process to open in West Orange. However, the ordinance, as it is currently written, has been called into question, as federal guidelines state that cannabis businesses should be more than 1,000 feet away from these areas, not the 200-foot distance for which the businesses were approved according to the West Orange ordinance.

The Red Bank Borough Council will hold a special meeting Monday to review and discuss its ordinance that regulates certain requirements for cannabis businesses to operate in the borough.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers. It is also a hybrid meeting so residents can follow it on Zoom.

The discussion may include, but is not limited to, a review of borough ordinance 2021-17, which amended the cannabis regulations for the borough, according to the notice.