PETERSBURG — Township residents will get the chance Feb. 23 to speak about Upper Township Committee’s plan to allow marijuana sales.
The committee is expected to hold a second reading and public hearing of Ordinance 1-2026, which creates a cannabis overlay zone from the Garden State Parkway’s Exit 25 interchange east to the 34th Street bridge on Roosevelt Boulevard heading into Ocean City. Retail sales will be permitted at one location.
The Planning Board deemed the ordinance complies with the township Master Plan on Feb. 5.
Committee members have been upfront about the need to increase revenue, and collecting 2 percent on gross sales is one step toward achieving that goal.
“The only reason I’m entertaining this is for the revenue side of it,” Mayor Curtis Corson said Jan. 12, noting he was a hard no six months ago when they began researching the issue.
The township expects to earn an estimated $20,000 a month and has dedicated it to three separate pots: general fund, recreation and beach maintenance/replenishment. In addition, the township would collect a $10,000 application fee, with half returned to those who are unsuccessful, and a $7,500 annual license fee. Corson also believes the real estate taxes will increase for the property where the business is located.
Several people addressed the issue during the previous meeting, a couple against the idea and a couple in favor.
Allowable hours of operation will mirror liquor stores, which operate from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The ordinance notes that 67 percent of voters statewide approved legalizing the recreational use of marijuana during a referendum in November 2020.
Former governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act, creating a commercial cannabis industry with six classes related to growing, processing, distributing, wholesale, delivery and retail uses
Every municipality in the state had to decide by fall of 2021 whether they were going to permit or prohibit sales in their communities, before the rules were even established, prompting many to vote initially to prohibit.
Since that time, some towns such as Upper Township have decided to allow sales and collect the tax revenue.
Delivery cannot be prohibited, and Corson said the product sold at stores outside town could be dropped at residents’ doorsteps without the township making a dime.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff