Residents asked to answer online survey this month
SOMERS POINT — Do you want marijuana businesses in Somers Point? Are you vehemently against having them? Should some types be allowed and others prohibited?
The Economic Development Advisory Committee wants to know, and has created an online survey to gauge public opinion.
The problem? Only about 120 of the city’s nearly 11,000 residents have filled out the questionnaire, with the deadline set for May 15.
“When we put it up at the end of March, we thought about 45 days to get the initial temperature of folks in town,” EDAC Chairman John Helbig said. “I was hoping we would have gotten a more robust response.”
As the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission was establishing rules for the legal production and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes in 2021, every municipality in the state had to choose whether to prohibit, allow or otherwise restrict cannabis-related businesses or be subject to what the state dictated for five years.
City Council, like most in the state, voted to prohibit all such businesses ahead of a predetermined deadline in a move to maintain local control, but with a clear intent to follow up after determining what the residents want.
While municipalities had to opt out by a certain date, they can opt in at any time.
City Council President Janice Johnston said at the time that prohibiting would give the city an opportunity to research the topic and “find out what the people want.”
The city charged the Economic Development Advisory Commission with determining what residents and other stakeholders want.
“They are doing a lot of research and trying to make the right recommendation,” Johnston said.
Helbig said the EDAC has been researching the topic of marijuana businesses since the state referendum passed that approved recreational use and a statewide marketplace for its production and sale.
He said the members have diverse backgrounds and are looking at the issue “from different perspectives.”
Helbig said city engineer Greg Schneider created a zoning map showing where the businesses could be located and what types of facilities would be permitted. He said they are trying to discover “what’s Somers Point’s place in this whole cannabis concept?”
Helbig said there is not a lot of space for manufacturing, production or distribution, but retail would fit nicely in the city.
Members of the cannabis subcommittee visited The Botantist dispensary in Egg Harbor Township and “were impressed.”
He said the company’s head of security, a retired State Police trooper, spoke during an EDAC meeting about his experiences, the typical customer, typical sale and what a facility can expect in terms of traffic and sales.
Finally, a representative of Envision Cannabis spoke during the board’s last meeting, noting it has support from several New Jersey municipalities.
Helbig said they learned a lot about where a company looks for locations, how the businesses are set up and some of the pros and cons.
“We’re working together to provide the best information, both positives and negatives, and what we could expect if council allowed it in the community,” Helbig said.
He said the city and EDAC have deliberatively moved at a slow pace to try to ensure the city would be getting what its residents want, noting the final piece of the puzzle is the survey.
Helbig said he would like to get more input.
“Hopefully we get some more responses,” he said. “The more folks we get becomes more of a representative cross-section.”
The questionnaire asks participants to select the statement that fits their preference:
— All cannabis-related activities deemed permissible by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission should be allowed with the city of Somers Point and conditionally permitted through the normal zoning and land development process;
— Cannabis-related business activities including processing, wholesaling and distribution services should be conditionally allowed and regulated, but not retail sales;
— Retail sales of cannabis and cannabis-related products should also be permitted but strictly regulated as to the number of facilities, locations and hours of operation;
— Retail sales of cannabis and cannabis-related products should also be permitted as long as the smoking of cannabis in all public spaces is banned within city limits;
— All cannabis-related business activities should continue to be completely prohibited with the city limits.
There also is a section for general remarks.
Participants must provide their name and address for verification of residency.
At somerspointgov.org, the questionnaire doesn’t exactly pop out at you — which it could — but instead is far down the page in a list of announcements. Click the link under “Cannabis’s Survey” (sic) to fill out the Cannabis Business Survey.
The link takes you to an explanatory page with information on the state law legalizing recreational marijuana and creation of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission charged with regulating all such business activities.
It states the options a municipality has to control the businesses and potential for taxation — 2 percent on all revenues associated with the processing/manufacture and retail sales of cannabis-related products within the community paid directly to the municipality.
“In an effort to determine resident attitudes on this issue, City Council has endorsed this survey/questionnaire and is requesting your input,” it states.
The page states retail establishments have the greatest potential for locating in the city, ranging from boutique shops to larger commercial facilities.
“We want to know what the residents want,” Johnston said Saturday.
She said there are limited areas in the city where the businesses would be allowed based on zoning and the location of public properties, and that retail businesses are the most likely fit.
“We need to know if they want that,” she said, noting the city voted in line with the state average of more than two-thirds in favor of decriminalization. “But that doesn’t mean they want it in their town.”
She said the EDAC put together a committee that has been doing research on such factors as possible location and type, and the survey is one part of that.
“The EDAC wants to make its recommendation to City Council and they just want to get the opinion of the public,” Johnston said.
Johnston said she would suggest the city move the deadline back a week to May 22 but that the city would like to know the residents’ wishes sooner rather than later. She said there are investors interested in Somers Point who are ready to move forward if that’s what the city chooses to do. “People are interested in looking into it, if it is something that we want,” she said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff