With each passing day, New Jersey is – slowly but surely – getting a little greener.
Two years after the first legal weed sales began, 42 percent of all New Jersey municipalities have chosen to participate in the cannabis industry in some shape or form, according to an Asbury Park Press analysis of municipal ordinances in all 564 cities in the state. This is a slight increase from April 2022, when only 38% of municipalities opted in, supported by a surge in interest in retail pharmacies.
As of April 2022, authorities in only 135 municipalities have passed ordinances regulating dispensaries. As of this week, there were 166 cities — about 29 percent of all cities in the state.
“A lot of cities that weren’t philosophically anti-cannabis are moving back,” said Mike Serra, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. “I don’t know if we’ll ever see a wave, but it will be a more gradual process.”
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In dozens of cities, officials attributed their early opt-outs to the rushed timeline of New Jersey’s marijuana legalization laws. This happened in Englishtown.
But after a series of political upheavals, then-Councilman Daniel Francisco led an effort to repeal the city’s opt-out ordinance from 2021. The city immediately received a half-dozen requests for approval. The ordinances eventually passed, but they are among the laxest in the state.
All six licensed classes of cannabis businesses are permitted in Englishtown, with dispensaries permitted in all commercial zones and other uses permitted in industrial zones as long as they obtain state and local approval and pay an annual fee of between $2,500 and $4,500.
“Everyone thinks I have this obsession with cannabis, but I just think it’s a legitimate business and they should be allowed to operate and succeed and prosper here, and we can be part of that story,” said Francisco, elected mayor of the city last year.
Three dispensaries have already received some level of approval from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, with the first expected to open in a month. A cannabis grower and grower is also scouting properties in the city.
“We’ll be able to say that the product is grown, produced and sold in our city, and there aren’t many other cities that can say that,” Francisco said. “We already have developers vying for properties in our downtown asking what they can do to take advantage of the foot traffic from these dispensaries. They haven’t even opened their doors yet.”
Almost every city that has passed an ordinance to engage in the production of cannabis has included an additional ordinance imposing a tax rate of up to 2% on all transactions. Most also charge annual and application fees, usually between $5,000 and $20,000, although some cities charge up to $50,000.
There will always be an entrepreneur willing to pay it, because in many cases there is no other choice. Although only 42% of cities may allow cannabis businesses, many have restrictions that essentially drive cannabis businesses to industrial or commercial areas on the outskirts.
This may work for a grower or wholesaler, but a retail dispensary relies on visibility and traffic to survive.
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Finding a place in a city open to cannabis is the most common difficulty reported by Darin Chandler, Jr., Director of Cannabis Real Estate at RIPCO.
He usually has one main recommendation: Instead of trying to find a seat in a city he’s already picked, start lobbying elected officials in a city he’s picked — especially in a pocket of the state that looks like a legal weed desert.
“You have to really build that relationship up front, work with them hand-in-hand and show that you’re a real partner to the community, that you’re not just going to take the money and run,” said Chandler, also president and COO of Premo Cannabis Co., a dispensary opening in Keyport later this month. “It takes time and requires venture capital. But you really have to be dedicated to this industry instead of looking at it as a money grab.”
Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation, and just about anything going on at any given moment. Contact him at [email protected] or @by MikeDavis on Twitter.
