The big fireworks over the possible opening of one or more cannabis dispensaries in Princeton have been expected to occur at the Princeton Council meeting Tuesday, March 29.
After Hoboken's relatively new Cannabis Review Board approved a non-medical dispensary Thursday and considered applications of two others, some residents who were frustrated with the approval process have posted an online petition.
Also as a result of that debate, one of the other two applicants — Blue Violets Dispensary — posted a message to the community last week about its application to open on Washington Street (see more on that below). And Mayor Ravi Bhalla has now suggested limiting the number of dispensaries to six within the mile-square city.
Pennington Borough Council conducted a Special Meeting on the evening of Monday, February 28, to hear applications seeking Ccouncil support for a State of New Jersey retail cannabis license.
Three companies presented applications to the Council seeking a Resolution of Support. At a previous meeting, Pennington approved one retail cannabis location, without a consumption area, in the designated Highway Business Zone on Route 31. Before the meeting Monday night, applicants were required to submit a completed questionnaire to clarify critical issues for Council members.
The ideas New Jersey residents offered up Wednesday night were equally varied.
“If you ask 10 people what is social equity, you’ll get 10 different answers,” warned Hasaan Austin, one of the first speakers.
Joe Johnson of Newark urged the commission to give or loan “significant funding” to applicants from impact zones, saying other states that failed to do so fell short in their social justice goals.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC) is hosting a series of public hearings to take testimony from residents on how to best utilize collected fees from the sale of cannabis products to improve their communities and promote social equity. The meetings will be broken up into three separate virtual hearings for North, Central, and South Jersey. The dates and times for the Central and South Jersey meetings are as follows:
“After a careful review of the ordinance, I believe that we should make the following amendments to our cannabis ordinances,” Bhalla said.
The mayors recommended changes are:
Capping the number of dispensaries (medical and recreational) to a maximum of six and a maximum of three in each of the citys six wards.
In December, council members adopted an ordinance that established regulations to be followed by individuals and/or entities that would seek approval for a cannabis business license.
In Tinton Falls’ form of government, the mayor does not vote on the adoption of ordinances or the passage of resolutions. Only the council members vote on those municipal government actions.
In comments made during the meeting, Perillo said potential cannabis businesses would place a burden on the borough and lead to negative repercussions.
Expungement clinics. School buses. Wheelchair ramps. Cannabis community centers. Training for rookie entrepreneurs. Grants and no-interest loans.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission heard all sorts of ideas Wednesday night from 15 people during an hourlong virtual public hearing held to solicit input for how the state should spend tax revenue from the new recreational marijuana market when sales eventually begin.
The commission also heard plenty of ideas on how they should not spend the money.
Maybe. But, consider this: If recreational shops were to open this month, or if medical shops were approved to sell recreational cannabis—as Gov. Phil Murphy suggested in a recent interview with WBGO—it actually wouldn’t be that much longer of a process than in other states. In Colorado, which was the first of two states to allow recreational cannabis sales (with Washington), 14 months passed before the first 37 stores opened their doors. Washington took 20 months.
The application that set all of this in motion is for a dispensary on 14th and Hudson Streets in the former location of Hudson Tavern. It’s at the base of a residential building owned by an LLC affiliated with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s wife Jaclyn. And it sits in the second ward, led by Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.
She didn’t realize legislation she had approved last year would allow dispensaries in part of her ward, and she admitted she regrets not paying closer attention at the time.