VIDEO: Red Bank ordinances, or lack thereof, create cannabis free-for-all
A plan to make cannabis dispensaries less regulated in one Monmouth County community may be creating a cannabis free-for-all that could last five years.
A plan to make cannabis dispensaries less regulated in one Monmouth County community may be creating a cannabis free-for-all that could last five years.
The Borough Council tabled a resolution to approve a medicinal marijuana dispensary on Main Street near Brooklake Road after being confronted with vehement opposition from residents at a council meeting Monday evening.
Nearly 20 residents, including many residents of nearby Niles Avenue, spoke out against an application from a proposed dispensary called First Choice Health and Wellness to establish a medical dispensary in the two-story office building at 340 Main St., next to the Lukoil gas station.
Red Bank Cannabis License Applications
As of this date, the council has approved 16 resolutions "acknowledging" applications for a cannabis business license; 13 for retail operations and 3 for cultivation, or growing of the herb.
Each resolution includes the language, “… the issuance of a license to the applicant by the (New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory), Commission would not exceed any municipally-imposed limit…” (emphasis added).
That’s because Red Bank has no limit on the number of cannabis businesses that can operate in the borough.
There will be no cap on the number of cannabis retail establishments in Jersey City, the municipal council decided recently. In a vote by the body an attempt to cap the number at 55 was rejected.
While each of the council members had their own reason for opposing the measure, the general feeling was that too many of the businesses are being proposed for the northern part of the city while other sections are being left out from participating in the growing industry.
Members of the Red Bank Borough Council have passed two resolutions which acknowledge that entities known as Divine Garden, LLC, and 918 RB, LLC, have each proposed operating a permitted cannabis business in town.
The resolutions acknowledge that Divine Garden, LLC’s, and 918 RB, LLC’s, proposals would not exceed the municipal limit for the number of permitted cannabis businesses.
Divine Garden, LLC, is seeking a cannabis cultivator’s license and 918 RB, LLC, is seeking a retail cannabis license, according to the resolutions.
The family operators of a Mount Laurel amusement park and a Cherry Hill country club want to offer another form of relaxation here — a weed shop.
Evesham’s planning board recently advanced the proposal after hearing Randy Lahn and Alex Lahn describe a new use for a gutted office building on Old Marlton Pike near Route 73.
The board acted weeks after approving a separate proposal to sell cannabis products at the former Marlton Diner on westbound Route 70.
Ascend Fort Lee will be open for recreational weed order pick-ups on Thursday, NJ Advance Media has been told exclusively by the multi-state operator that owns the dispensary.
This dispensary received its site approval from the Fort Lee Planning Board late Monday, the last step the firm needed to begin adult weed sales and become the 21st store in New Jersey to offer recreational adult weed.
Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. plans to launch adult-use cannabis sales at its dispensary in Fort Lee.
After the Fort Lee Planning Board memorialized its decision Nov. 14 to allow Ascend to begin operating as a cannabis retail establishment, the multistate operator announced it will start welcoming recreational-use customers Nov. 17 at its West Street shop.
Since opening the 3,400-square-foot dispensary in August, Ascend Fort Lee has served only medical cannabis patients while the company pursued the necessary state and local approvals to expand into retail cannabis.
Local Modiv had sued the city and the cannabis control board in July after its application was rejected, arguing that the board had applied “an incorrect standard” and had treated its application differently than others.
Local Modiv’s owners, CEO Chelsea Duffy, the vice chairwoman of the city’s Women’s Advisory Board, and COO Matthew Cimiluca, an IT engineer, received planning board approval in March, as well as obtained a conditional license by the state last month.
Garden State Botanicals' proposal to convert a 2,400-square-foot space at a shopping center at 1345-1471 Route 1 southbound was approved by the township's Zoning Board of Adjustment last month.
The dispensary will be in the North Oaks Plaza, commonly known as the Raymour & Flanigan shopping center, adjacent to North Oaks Boulevard.
The dispensary is expected to be between WindowRama and Dunkin’, in the space currently occupied by Halal Boys, according to the township.
get your FL Office of Medical Marijuana Use card!
get your MD Medical Cannabis Commission card!