Committee also hears opposition
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — Tax revenue and convenience were listed as reasons why the city should allow cannabis businesses to operate within its borders.
A City Council subcommittee held an exploratory session with the public Tuesday, June 29, and the majority of those who spoke said they are in favor of permitting it.
Councilwoman June Byrnes and Councilmen Matthew Levinson and Todd Michael were joined by City Clerk Leigh Ann Napoli and Jen Heller from Polistina & Associates, the city’s engineering firm, representing the governing body. About a dozen members of the public and several police officers were in the gallery.
Levinson, who oversees revenue and finance for the city, said the ad hoc committee was formed to look at allowing, prohibiting or otherwise controlling cannabis businesses in the city.
All municipalities in the state are up against a deadline of Aug. 21 to enact local measures or be subject to whatever the state imposes. They would not be able to change that for five years and the businesses that opened during that time would be able to continue despite later restrictions.
New Jersey voters approved a ballot questions in November 2020, with 67 percent statewide approving the decriminalization of marijuana possession and consumption and creating six types of businesses permitted to operate. Gov. Phil Murphy signed the measure into law.
The types of licenses permitted are cultivator, manufacturer and retailer, on which municipalities may enact a local tax of as much as 2 percent, and wholesaler, on which cities can charge as much as a 1 percent tax. The final two types are distributor and delivery.
Heller provided a map showing buffers of 250, 500 and 1,000 feet from every school, public park, library and other qualifying sites would leave very little room in the city where the businesses could be located.
Where they would be permitted, employing the 1,000-foot buffer, is perhaps significant — Route 9 from Central Avenue to the border with Northfield — because it would include part of the Central Square shopping center, as well as the Crown Bank building across the street.
Levinson said the meeting was being held to find out what the public wants, noting the city is on a tight deadline and must do something or be at the mercy of what the state imposes.
He said the retail license really is the only one that would work in Linwood but noted delivery cannot be prohibited and that residents could just order it from Northfield, which has introduced an ordinance to permit cannabis businesses.
“Is the revenue worth it?” Levinson asked.
Jill Ojserkis said it is.
She said 67 percent of Linwood residents voted in favor of legalizing adult use of recreational marijuana.
“Using legal means to lower taxes is a good thing,” Ojserkis said, noting she wants the city to get its fair share of any revenue generated.
Levinson later noted that 67 percent may have voted in favor of legalizing adult use of marijuana but they did not vote to have it in their city.
Ojserkis said Linwood residents will be able to buy marijuana and have it delivered to their homes but the only way the city could make money off of it is if the business were within its borders.
“Marijuana will be delivered in Linwood regardless of whether it is sold here,” she said.
Ojserkis, an attorney, said instances of driving while impaired may increase now that marijuana use is legal and the city could use the revenue to offset the cost of law enforcement.
She warned that once licenses are available — it’s still anyone’s guess as to how many will be allowed statewide — entrepreneurs will move quickly to secure them.
“If Linwood doesn’t approve of them coming here than they will spend their money elsewhere,” Ojserkis said. “We need to reap the economic benefit and you should act quickly and decisively to permit it.”
Ian Brady, who said he was “blown up by an IED” and suffered physical and psychological injuries while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, spoke in favor of allowing marijuana retail shops.
He said the VA doctors’ answers were always “meds, meds, meds” and that he was in such despair that he almost took his own life.
Brady said he got turned on to medical marijuana in California and “it was like night and day.”
Noting it can still be abused, “at the end of the day a couple of hits and I could sleep,” he said. “Get relief from pain.”
Brady said another benefit would be knowing it came from a reliable source rather than buying it off the street.
He also spoke to hypothetical fears of marijuana ruining the community.
“California did not fall into the ocean,” he said. “It’s still there.”
Karen Reses, identifying herself as a “big believer in business and enterprise,” said she sees neighborhoods deteriorating and people not taking care of their homes like people had in the past. She suggested tax revenue will decline and imperil “this wonderful school district.” She said the city should take advantage of the revenue while it can.
Local grandmother Susan Marino said she is “very much in favor of having a dispensary.”
“We need the money,” Marino said. “I would love to see taxes lowered or just not go up for a while.”
Of course not everyone was in favor of allowing such establishments to operate in the city.
Gary Green said his main opposition is because the state has not provided clear guidelines on how the cannabis industry will operate.
“For us to OK this would be premature,” he said, noting that “if we don’t like it, it would be too late.”
He said he doesn’t feel that the city needs tax revenue badly enough to warrant allowing a marijuana business. He suggested the city change the zoning to allow for more commercial areas.
“More guys walking around smoking pot is not going to be the best for business,” he said.
Other members of the public spoke out against allowing it but did not approach the microphone more identify themselves.
Levinson said he agrees that waiting is the best action, noting that it has been stated a municipality can opt in at any time but that the state still has not released its guidelines.
Heller said retail shops would be a conditional use in any business zone and that the other types of licenses would be permitted only in industrial zones, of which the city has none.
She advised the city to do something rather than be subject to the state’s rules.
It was noted that alcohol can be purchased in the city and that even though package goods are not offered, the bar at The Exchange could do so if it chose.
Levinson said the city cannot stop home delivery nor people consuming it in private. Some cities have added cannabis to its prohibition of smoking on public property.
Brady said if the city were to prohibit retail shops in the city it would not keep people from consuming marijuana.
Ojserkis urged quick action to permit it.
“If we don’t act now, people looking for licenses — and they are going to be expensive — they are going to go where they are wanted and there will be no need for them to come here later,” she said. “We would have lost our opportunity.”
Napoli said the city had received 13 emails on the subject as of June 29, with seven for permitting cannabis businesses and six against.
Michael told those in attendance not to think “we are taking this lightly.”