Flemington

Aunt Mary’s Dispensary has become the latest medical dispensary to enter New Jersey’s legalized marketplace for recreational cannabis sales.

After the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) approved the company’s application to expand operations into the personal-use market, the Flemington-based business officially began welcoming adult-use customers Aug. 26.

This is the borough’s first retail recreation license and second license issued overall. The first license was for a medicinal marijuana operator, Aunt Mary’s Dispensary.

The new recreational cannabis retailer is set to be located at the now closed 25 Burgers location in Flemington at 313 U.S. Route 202.

A group wants to bring an "extremely unique" medicinal cannabis dispensary and wellness center targeted for veterans to the county seat.

Timory Ridall, of Montgomery, told the Borough Council on March 27 that the group, Four Leaf, wants to bring "the first of its kind" facility to Flemington.

Ridall, who said the principals of the group are all women, said the facility would offer a "restorative and peaceful environment" where wellness is an important goal.

The Borough Council introduced an ordinance Monday that limited the places where cannabis businesses can open in the county seat.

If it passes after a public hearing March 27, the shops will not be allowed to open downtown or in the Stangl Road area.

The shops will only be allowed on state highways or county roads, the ordinance says.

Plans are moving forward for the first medical marijuana dispensary, which eventually could be an adult-use marijuana store, to open in the borough.

Aunt Mary's Dispensary is scheduled to appear Dec. 6 before the borough Planning Board to receive minor site plan approval to open in a 5,200-square-foot space next to Panchero's in the Shoppes at Flemington off the Flemington Circle.

There are a few communities currently considering plans. A handful of others already have been adjusting to legal medical grow sites as new neighbors, while a few spots in South Jersey have embraced the job creation that comes with the new business.

It can be a contentious relationship — such as in one Hunterdon County town, which this month reversed course on previous plans and prohibited any cannabis facilities from being set up in the community.

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A second medical marijuana dispensary will be coming to the county seat.

The Borough Council on Monday passed a resolution supporting McGraw Holdings New Jersey LLC's plan to open at 26 Stangl Road.

Drew Peloso, co-owner of the company with his wife Stephanie, said the company scored sixth out of the 109 applicants in the latest round of dispensary licenses granted last week.

The commission awarded licenses to 30 dispensaries, 10 each in the central, northern and southern regions of New Jersey.

With governmental approvals secured at the state and local level in the last two weeks of October, the Altus cannabis business, a medical dispensary, is expected to open in Flemington in early 2022.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) granted the permit on Oct. 15, and a letter regarding their favorable Final Agency Decision was part of the borough council’s agenda packet material for Oct. 25. The state permit application was originally filed by Altus in August 2019.

Hunterdon County's first medical marijuana dispensary could open in three to four months in a shopping center off the Flemington Circle.

Altus New Jersey has been granted a permit by the state's Cannabis Regulatory Commission to open the dispensary at The Shoppes at Flemington off the circle.

Altus received the highest score in the state among permit applicants, Jonathan Goldrath, one of the company's principals told the Borough Council.

"We're really excited to bring our business to Flemington," he said.

It may be a long, strange trip before the first recreational marijuana shop opens in the county seat.

"It's becoming a lot more complicated than we thought," Borough Attorney Tara St. Angelo told the Borough Council Monday in a preliminary discussion on what steps may be necessary for a recreational marijuana retailer or cultivator to open in Flemington.

The good news, St. Angelo said, is that marijuana businesses are actively looking to open in Flemington.