As promised, I am sharing a draft version of a Lawrence Township ordinance that will designate certain areas in which cannabis businesses may operate within the community. New Jersey state law requires municipalities to adopt such ordinances by August 22, 2021, or lose the right to for a period of 5-years.
Below is the draft ordinance. It is in the process of being reviewed and considered by the governing body and may, in some form, be on the agenda for the next council meeting.
ORDINANCE NO. ____
AN ORDINANCE BY THE TOWNSHIP OF LAWRENCE MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY RESTRICTING THE OPERATION OF ANY CLASS OF CANNABIS BUSINESSES WITHIN ITS GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES TO CERTAIN DESIGNATED AREAS AND ZONES
WHEREAS, in 2020 New Jersey voters approved Public Question No. 1, which amended the New Jersey Constitution to allow for the legalization of a controlled form of marijuana called “cannabis” for adults at least 21 years of age; and
WHEREAS, on February 22, 2021, Governor Murphy signed into law P.L. 2021, c. 16, known as the “New Jersey
Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (the “Act”), which legalizes the
recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 years of age or older, and
establishes a
comprehensive regulatory and licensing scheme for commercial recreational
(adult use) cannabis operations, use, and possession; and
WHEREAS, the Act establishes six marketplace
classes of licensed businesses, including:
·
Class
1 Cannabis Cultivator license, for facilities involved in growing and
cultivating cannabis;
· Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer license, for facilities involved in the manufacturing, preparation, and packaging of cannabis items;
· Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler license, for facilities involved in obtaining and selling cannabis items for later resale by other licensees;
· Class 4 Cannabis Distributer license, for businesses involved in transporting cannabis plants in bulk from on licensed cultivator to another licensed cultivator, or cannabis items in bulk from any type of licensed cannabis business to another;
· Class 5 Cannabis Retailer license for locations at which cannabis items and related supplies are sold to consumers; and
· Class 6 Cannabis Delivery license, for businesses providing courier services for consumer purchases that are fulfilled by a licensed cannabis retailer in order to make deliveries of the purchases items to a consumer, and which service would include the ability of a consumer to make a purchase directly through the cannabis delivery service which would be presented by the delivery service for fulfillment by a retailer and then delivered to a consumer.
WHEREAS,
section 31a of the Act authorizes municipalities by ordinance to adopt
regulations governing the number of cannabis establishments (defined in section
3 of the Act as “a cannabis cultivator, a cannabis manufacturer, a cannabis
wholesaler, or a cannabis retailer”), cannabis distributors or cannabis delivery
services allowed to operate within their boundaries, as well as the location
manner and times operation of such establishments, distributors or delivery
services, and establishing civil penalties for the violation of any such
regulations; and
WHEREAS, section 31b of the Act authorizes
municipalities by ordinance to permit, regulate or prohibit the operation of
any one or more classes of cannabis establishments, distributors, or delivery
services anywhere in the municipality; and
WHEREAS, section 31b of the Act also stipulates
that any municipal regulation or prohibition must be adopted within 180 days of the effective date of the
Act (i.e., by August 22, 2021); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to section 31b of the Act, the failure to do so shall mean that for a period of five years thereafter, the growing, cultivating, manufacturing, selling
and reselling of cannabis and cannabis items shall be permitted uses in all industrial zones, and the retail selling of cannabis items to consumers shall be a conditional use in all commercial and retail zones; and
WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the initial and any subsequent five-year period following a failure to enact local
regulations
or prohibitions, the municipality
shall
again have 180 days to adopt an
ordinance regulating or prohibiting cannabis businesses, but any such ordinance would be prospective only and would not apply to any cannabis business already
operating within the municipality; and
WHEREAS, the governing body of the TOWNSHIP OF LAWRENCE (hereafter, the “TOWNSHIP”) has determined that, due to present uncertainties regarding the potential future impacts that allowing one or more classes of cannabis business might have on New Jersey municipalities in general, and on the TOWNSHIP in particular, it is at this time necessary and appropriate, and in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of the TOWNSHIP’s residents and members of the public who visit, travel, or conduct business in the TOWNSHIP, to designate certain areas and land use zones within the TOWNSHIP in which the six marketplace classes of licensed cannabis-related businesses may operate within the geographic boundaries of the TOWNSHIP; and
1. Pursuant to section 31b of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (P.L. 2021, c. 16), all cannabis establishments, cannabis distributors or cannabis delivery services are hereby designated to operate within the boundaries of the TOWNSHIP as follows:
a. Class 1 Cannabis Cultivator
b. Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer
c. Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler
d. Class 4 Cannabis Distributor
a. Class 1 Cannabis Cultivator
b. Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer
c. Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler
d. Class 4 Cannabis Distributor
4. Limited Industry (LI-1) District: the following marketplace classes of licensed cannabis businesses
shall be permitted uses:
a. Class 1 Cannabis Cultivator
b. Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer
c. Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler
d. Class 4 Cannabis Distributor
5. Regional Commercial (RC) District: the following marketplace classes of licensed cannabis businesses shall be permitted uses:
a.
Class
5 Cannabis Retailer
b.
Class
6 Cannabis Delivery
6. Highway Commercial (HC) District, where the property has frontage on US Highway Route 1: the following marketplace classes of licensed cannabis businesses shall be permitted uses:
a.
Class
5 Cannabis Retailer
b.
Class
6 Cannabis Delivery
7. The number of Class 5 Cannabis Retailers shall not exceed two (2) in the Township.
8. Any article,
section, paragraph, subsection, clause, or other provision of the Lawrence
TOWNSHIP Municipal Code inconsistent with the provisions of this ordinance is
hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.
9. If any section, paragraph, subsection, clause, or provision of this ordinance shall be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such adjudication shall apply only to the section, paragraph, subsection, clause, or provision so adjudged, and the remainder of this ordinance shall be deemed valid and effective.
10. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and publication and filing with the County of Mercer Planning Board, and as otherwise provided for by law.
, Clerk Hon. ,
Mayor
I,
______________________, Clerk of the TOWNSHIP of Lawrence, do hereby certify
that the foregoing is a true copy of an ordinance duly adopted by the governing
body of the TOWNSHIP OF LAWRENCE on ______________________, 2021.
______________________________
, Clerk
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