Last night, the Lawrence Township Council Members voted to introduce an ordinance that restricts licensed recreational cannabis businesses to designated zones within our community. The full text of the ordinance is below.
It is important for everyone to understand that the "New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Modernization Act" (hereafter, "the Act") (here is a link 21_R2.PDF (state.nj.us) requires municipalities to take action and adopt an ordinance to either prohibit or restrict cannabis operators in their community before August 21, 2021, or cannabis businesses may operate in the manner regulated by the general land use ordinance. Furthermore, if a municipality fails to adopt an ordinance, it is barred from passing legislation prohibiting or restricting cannabis business operations within the community for a period of five (5) years.
Also, it is just as important to understand that ordinances passed pursuant to the Act are limited to either prohibiting some or all cannabis businesses from operating within the community or restricting some or all cannabis businesses to designated areas within the community. The ordinance is not supposed to nor may it encompass use issues (i.e., where people are allowed to use cannabis) or regulate or restrict businesses that are not an identified class of cannabis business under the Act. Opportunities for municipalities to address these other related topics or concerns are not subject to the August 21, 2021 deadline.
Terms of Interest for our ordinance:
1. Cannabis Retailers and Delivery Services are restricted to the storefront areas along U.S. Route 1 (the Highway Commercial zone) between Franklin Corner Road and Quakerbridge Road (which includes the Mercer Mall).
2. Cannabis Retailers and Delivery Services may also operate within the QBM (Regional Commercial Zone) should the mall ownership allow for it.
3. There is a limit of two (2) cannabis retailers to operate within the community at any given time. However, any medicinal marijuana businesses currently operating in the community (there is one, Zen Leaf) are exempt from the limit should it become a licensed recreational cannabis retailer and there are two other cannabis retailers already operating. This means that at the most there could be three (3) cannabis retailers in the community at any given time.
A public hearing on the ordinance will occur during the next council meeting, scheduled for 6:00 pm on July 20, 2021, at the Municipal Building. The meeting will be open to the public to attend in person.
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:dc9d0e1a-4868-42b2-812a-77976e558be0
Township of Lawrence
County of Mercer
Ordinance No. 2400-21
AN ORDINANCE BY THE TOWNSHIP OF LAWRENCE IN MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY RESTRICTING THE OPERATION OF CANNIBIS 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 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 to make deliveries of the purchased 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 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,
after 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:
b. Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer
c. Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler
d. Class 4 Cannabis Distributor
3. Mixed Use 3 (MX-3) District: the following marketplace classes of licensed cannabis businesses shall be permitted uses:
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
5. Regional Commercial (R.C.) 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 (H.C.) District where the property has frontage on U.S. Highway Route 1 between Franklin Corner Road and Quakerbridge Road: 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 at any time. Any currently licensed medicinal marijuana operator in the Township may not be denied under this provision to operate hereafter as a licensed Class 5 Cannabis Retailer or Class 6 Cannabis Delivery Service.
11. 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.
Introduced: June 15, 2021
1 comment:
Excellente!!
Post a Comment