By BILL BARLOW /Special to the Sentinel
UPPER TOWNSHIP – Despite a last-minute appeal, Township Committee on Monday unanimously approved an ordinance banning cannabis businesses anywhere in the township.
At the same meeting, which Mayor Rich Palombo said will likely be the last to be held remotely, committee also delayed voting on this year’s municipal budget. Like many towns, Upper Township is awaiting further guidance from the state on how it can use its share of billions of dollars’ worth of federal aid aimed at easing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re waiting for the guidance from the state on how we can spend the funding,” said Barbara Ludy, the township’s chief financial officer.
Committee introduced the $15.4 million budget March 22, including an increase to the tax rate.
As proposed, the budget increases the local purpose tax rate by 1.7 cents for every $100 of assessed value. It’s an increase of slightly less than 9 percent compared to last year. The introduced township tax rate of 21.87 cents per $100 in the proposed budget will mean the owner of a house assessed at $300,000 – close to the average – will pay $656.10 in municipal taxes, in addition to school and county taxes.
But the state guidance may allow some funding to be applied to tax relief or cover other expenses that could ultimately ease that increase.
The township was set to hold a public hearing on April 26, but it was tabled at that time as well.
Committee members expect to be ready to adopt the budget on May 24. At that point, meetings are expected to be back in Township Hall, 2100 Tuckahoe Road, Petersburg.
It’s been more than a year since committee members met in person, aside from the reorganization meeting in January. Most public meetings moved to online platforms to allow for social distance because of COVID-19. With an increasing number of people vaccinated and the number of COVID cases falling in the county, it’s time to take a step back toward normal, Palombo said.
Vaccines are now readily available after months of struggles to make appointments. The county vaccination site at the Avalon Community Center, 3001 Avalon Ave., will have walk-in appointments with a choice between the Johnson and Johnson or Moderna vaccines from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, for those 18 and older.
“At our next meeting, we will go back to our old-fashioned live, open meetings,” he said. There is enough room in Township Hall to maintain social distance, he said, but he added that masks will likely be required.
All five members of the committee are vaccinated, he said.
“I think that we should be covered at least up on the podium where we sit,” he said. “I think we’re long overdue to have that.”
Palombo added that committee member Kim Hayes has not yet attended an in-person meeting besides the reorganization, which he described as difficult to believe. Committee appointed her last year to fill in the unexpired term of former member Hobie Young.
There will likely not be a means of participating remotely once meetings return to Township Hall, he said, but the meetings will still be recorded and posted to the township website, as took place before the pandemic.
As of May 10, there were eight active cases of COVID-19 in Upper Township, out of 140 countywide, according to figures from the Cape May County Department of Health discussed at the meeting. That does not mean the pandemic is history. The same report announced the death of an 87-year-old man from Middle Township.
Marijuana ordinances
On Monday, committee approved two ordinances relating to marijuana. While it remains illegal at the federal level, New Jersey has joined multiple other states in allowing it to be grown, taxed, sold and used by those over 21.
But it will not be sold in the township, at least under a new ordinance unanimously approved Monday. Township attorney Dan Young said the state law gives municipalities a limited time to act, or else cannabis businesses will automatically be allowed in certain zones.
Without approving an ordinance, he said, the township would have to wait five years before the next opportunity to ban cannabis growing facilities and retail dispensaries. But the township can ease the ban at any time.
“So this isn’t ‘no’ forever,” Young said.
Resident Spencer Belz spoke against the ordinance. With other towns, including Ocean City and Somers Point, also moving to ban dispensaries, this could be a business opportunity for Upper Township, he said. He argued that cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol, pointing out that the township has several liquor licenses, and described cannabis as a medicine.
“It could really help our township grow and thrive, especially after everything we’ve been through in the past year,” he said.
Blanche Adams of the Upper Township Business Association described a poll undertaken that saw 100 responses in favor of allowing cannabis businesses, with 35 opposed. She also cited the November referendum that cleared the way for legalization. Statewide, and in Upper Township, voters strongly favored allowing cannabis sales.
“There shouldn’t even be a question. The voters were resoundingly clear,” Adams said.
Towns that allow marijuana businesses have the opportunity to impose a local tax.
But Committeeman Curtis Corson pointed out that the township does not have its own police department, relying on the State Police. He said the township would need police if it had marijuana sales, and calculated that a business doing $5 million in cannabis sales would mean $100,000 in new tax revenue, nowhere near enough to launch a police department.
“I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” he said.
Young added the township Planning Board supported the ordinance after a recent consistency review, a necessary step in any zoning amendment.
Far less controversial was another ordinance banning marijuana smoking, vaping and other forms of consumption from public parks in the township.
The new ordinance will not prevent residents from possessing cannabis, smoking it at home or on their own property, or having it delivered from a licensed dispensary.