While neighboring Asbury Park has said it would embrace marijuana dispensaries if the state chooses to legalize weed, Neptune is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Neptune Mayor Nicholas Williams said he wants to know more from the state before deciding whether he would support allowing dispensaries in the township.
At Oceanport’s April 19 council meeting, the governing body voted 5-0 to approve an amendment to an ordinance that prohibits the launch of any business engaged in the growth or sale of medicinal and recreational marijuana or paraphernalia in any of the borough’s zoning districts, including its section of Fort Monmouth.
Council president Joseph A. Irace said the ordinance was a preemptive movement to counteract future development plans for borough property that might coincide with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s stated intentions to legalize marijuana.
Earlier this month, Brigantine City Council approved an ordinance preemptively banning the sale of the drug. The ordinance states "there is no area of the City which can safely house a business selling recreational marijuana" or paraphernalia.
An ordinance that bans businesses from the sale, distribution, cultivation and facilitating the use of recreation and or medicinal marijuana was approved on second reading by the Township Council at Monday's meeting.
The ordinance amends the land development code's "prohibited use" section to include "businesses selling, distributing, cultivating, growing and/or facilitating the sale and/or use of either recreation and or medicinal marijuana, including any ancillary or related paraphernalia."
Though it will have no legal impact, the Township Council passed a resolution on Monday opposing the legalization of recreational marijuana.
The vote in favor of the resolution, proposed by Councilman Matt Moench, was 4-1, with Council President Christine Henderson Rose as the sole dissenting vote.
Moench said the resolution was "an important first step" in sending a message to the state legislature that Bridgewater is opposed to marijuana legalization "and will not allow marijuana within our borders."
At its first of two April meetings on Monday evening, the Borough Council unanimously voted to introduce an ordinance which would prohibit “businesses selling recreational marijuana, its derivatives, accessories and/or the paraphernalia that facilitate the use of such” inside the 2- square-mile town.
There’s one caveat though: There will be no prohibition on any business related to medicinal marijuana.
The City Council is expected to delay a final vote on Mayor Steve Fulop's plan to ban recreational marijuana sales citywide.
Fulop, a supporter of legalized marijuana, has said the initial ban would be part of a two-pronged effort to allow the city to decide where marijuana dispensaries should open. But the proposal, which would also prohibit growing and distributing pot, has been met with skepticism from some council members and outright opposition from legalization supporters. The council was scheduled to take a final vote on it Wednesday.
Marijuana legalization has been one of the hottest issues in New Jersey since Phil Murphy took over in Trenton this year. At first he said he'd get it done in 100 days. Last week he walked that back, saying he wanted legalization by the end of the year.
At the Shore, officials in Asbury Park and Atlantic City say they support recreational sales, while the leaders in Point Pleasant Beach, Wildwood, Seaside Heights, Lavallette, and Berkeley Township do not. Toms River introduced a resolution to prohibit sales but tabled the matter.
Councilman George E. Wittmann Jr. said Wednesday that the council is thinking about reintroducing the ban "in the near future." Wittmann, who championed barring the sale of recreational weed, was on vacation when the public hearing on the original ordinance took place.
He expressed agreement — as well as a bit of frustration — when McPhail, and a handful of other residents said the council should not have given in to pressure from the pro-marijuana side.