O.C., U.T., already said no to businesses; Northfield, Linwood vote this week
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
The deadline to set local limits on the statewide marijuana marketplace is looming and two of the three mainland municipalities are finalizing their plans this week.
In November 2020, New Jersey residents voted about 2-1 in favor of allowing recreational use of marijuana for adults and creation of the marketplace. That started a 180-day countdown for municipalities to prohibit or limit the six classes of cannabis businesses. Delivery businesses can be restricted but the actual delivery of the product cannot.
Municipalities that allow the businesses can impose a local tax of 1 percent or 2 percent, depending on the class, providing a new revenue stream.
Ocean City and Upper Township have already voted to ban marijuana businesses. Egg Harbor Township and Lower Township have voted to allow businesses.
Northfield City Council was expected to vote on whether to permit or prohibit the sale of cannabis products Tuesday night, while a vote to prohibit was on the agenda Wednesday, Aug. 11, in Linwood. Somers Point, meanwhile, is exploring its options after deciding to prohibit the practice for now.
Debate on the issue was extensive and at times heated in Northfield, with the governing body voting 5-2 to introduce an ordinance to permit the practice followed by a 4-3 vote about a month later to introduce an ordinance to prohibit it.
Doing so provided City Council with either option for a second reading and passage during its meeting Aug. 10, less than two weeks before the state’s Aug. 21 deadline for municipalities to impose local regulations on the industry. Failing to do so would effectively allow whatever the state ultimately decides when it creates the framework for the marketplace. What that will be is anyone’s guess, Council President Tom Polistina pointed out in requesting support for prohibiting the practice.
The ordinance that would permit the businesses allows four of the six classes to operate in the city’s Regional Commercial Zone on Tilton Road, from Deborah Avenue to the border with Egg Harbor Township. It would allow wholesale, distribution, retail and delivery businesses while prohibiting cultivation and manufacturing.
City solicitor Kris Facenda advised throughout the process that prohibiting the practice would protect the city from having to abide by whatever the state decides while providing time to make an informed decision since cities may opt in at any time.
Councilman Brian Smith has been unequivocal in his opposition and Polistina joined him in voting against permitting the practice. Councilmen Greg Dewees and Dave Notaro joined Smith and Polistina in voting for prohibition, while Paul Utts, Frank Perri and Barbara Madden voted against it.
Polistina argued that so many aspects of the marijuana marketplace are unclear and perhaps even undetermined at this time that permitting it would be folly.
Utts, a member of the subcommittee that studied the issue, said delaying is a bad idea because businesses would go elsewhere. City Clerk Mary Canesi said she had already received telephone calls seeking information about operating in the city.
Utts said he is concerned the city will miss an opportunity by not getting in on the ground floor.
Madden noted nearly 70 percent of city voters supported the referendum.
Smith fired back that the referendum was for decriminalization not for allowing pot shops in your backyard.
Linwood to prohibit
Linwood was toying with the idea of allowing retail sales, even holding a public forum during which multiple people voiced support. However, based on a plan of keeping such businesses at least 1,000 feet from any public place, there is little room for them in the 4-square-mile city.
The governing body introduced an ordinance to prohibit the businesses July 14 and planned to hold a second reading and public hearing Aug. 11.
Councilman Todd Michael, a member of the subcommittee studying the issue, said there are too many unknowns regarding the state’s plans and that the city could revisit the issue if someone were to propose such a business in the limited space where one could operate, which consists of a small part of Central Square.
He also pointed out that while the city could stop a delivery business from operating out of the city, the actual delivery of the product cannot be restricted. Therefore, anyone in Linwood wanting to purchase cannabis products would be able to do so without having to travel out of the city.
Councilman Matthew Levinson pointed out that with marijuana still illegal federally, there are complications with leasing space to entities with a mortgage. He also said “no one is knocking down our door” to operate one of the businesses and that the city would have the ability to change course if it desired. He called prohibiting the businesses “the prudent thing to do at this time.”
He also said that council should be open to talking about any proposal that might come before the governing body and “determine whether it is good for the city.”
Somers Point City Council voted July 22 to prohibit all marijuana businesses, but only temporarily.
The city has charged the Economic Development Advisory Commission with determining what residents and other stakeholders want.
John Helbig, a professional planner and chairman of the EDAC, said he is looking at the issue from an economic standpoint.
“It’s seldom that a brand-new industry potentially presents itself, so I thought as the EDAC we should look at it and try in a deliberative fashion to try to understand what the state’s actions may mean for Somers Point,” Helbig said, noting the EDAC formed a subcommittee to study “what the state has done and was planning to do and adjacent municipalities were doing relative to that issue.”
Council President Janice Johnston said the idea behind creating the ordinance is simply to protect the city from “the state telling us what we could and couldn’t do.”
“We did that just because we had to do something,” Johnston said of the ordinance, noting the city now has time to research the topic and “find out what the people want.”
“The idea was to protect and try to maintain local control over the issue,” Helbig said, noting Somers Point voters were in line with the statewide average of two-thirds in favor and one-third opposed to legalizing recreational use of marijuana.