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Last month, at a Mayor and Council meeting, a 2% tax on recreational cannabis sales within the borough was passed. This means the council anticipates recreational dispensaries are on the way to Roselle Park, and more importantly, that the borough can monetize the blossoming cannabis market.
“[It] is meaningful revenue for a small town like us,” Signorello III said of the 2% tax. “We will put that back into whatever – paying for cops, paying for streetlights – whatever you can think of we will put back into the operational budget.”
Breakwater Treatment and Wellness went before the zoning board at a March 28 meeting. The company headquartered in Cranbury deals in medical marijuana and does not sell for recreational use. It had hoped to expand and open a third store on Memorial Avenue in Asbury Park.
But board members unanimously rejected the proposal even as members expressed support for marijuana use and the company itself.
The city's Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected an application for a medical marijuana dispensary on Memorial Drive and First Avenue.
Cranbury-based Breakwater Treatment and Wellness proposed opening the medical marijuana dispensary, which would have been the company's third location in New Jersey.
Breakwater's flagship dispensary in Cranbury has been open since 2015 and a satellite dispensary in Roselle Park opened in September, but Breakwater has long planned to open a dispensary in Asbury Park.
About 29% of municipalities in New Jersey now welcome some semblance of the cannabis industry, after 35 towns that had previously prohibited all classes of cannabis businesses have since passed ordinances allowing at least one type of licensed cannabis business to operate within their borders, according to a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey analysis of municipal ordinances.
At the time of a state-mandated deadline in August, fewer than a quarter of municipalities had passed such ordinances.
Asbury Park voters chose overwhelmingly to legalize pot, but city leaders argue, they just don't have enough guidance from Trenton.
Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn says the city will pause legal weed sales – for now – to make sure it's done in a way to get the highest reaching benefits.
An ordinance allowing Asbury Park to opt out of having marijuana businesses, such as dispensaries or cultivation centers, in city limits is making its way through the city's planning board review and is expected to return to the city council for a final vote on July 14.
But in a city where more than eight out of every 10 votes backed New Jersey marijuana legalization, city leaders made it clear their decision to opt out of the legal weed business was a short-term pause.
Neptune leaders, like their counterparts across the state, are under a time limit to set up their regulations for dispensaries ahead of a statewide Aug. 21 deadline.
New Jersey's law that legalized recreational marijuana gave all towns until then to decide if they want to ban dispensaries in their town or set up their own regulations. Otherwise the new businesses will be able to operate for five years under state regulations.
Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE:VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) (“Verano” or “the Company”), a leading multi-state cannabis company, today announced the opening of Zen Leaf Neptune, the Company’s second of three planned dispensaries in New Jersey, the maximum allowable number. The storefront is located at 2100 NJ-66 in Neptune Township, about two miles from the shore and popular landmarks such as the Asbury Park Boardwalk.
Prior to the enaction of the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, & Marketplace Modernization Act in February, dozens of New Jersey towns had local ordinances prohibiting cannabis businesses from setting up shop in their town, and others, like Jersey City and Asbury Park, were openly hospitable and welcoming to them.
City officials described being blindsided by Breakwater Treatment and Wellness' Instagram post Monday night, which they said ran counter to what they've been telling every other business hoping to open a dispensary in Asbury Park.
The City Council has been approached by more than 70 businesses seeking their support for their plans to open dispensaries within the city, Moor said.
