OAKLAND — A year after the borough said yes to non-retail cannabis businesses in designated zones, it’s having second thoughts.
Council members are talking of possibly repealing three ordinances passed last year as soon as Wednesday.
Last week’s hourlong council work session debate on repeal stemmed in part from a $6.8 million tort claim filed against the borough on Dec. 21 by Kusala Care LLC, seeking damages after the borough failed to act on its Aug. 20 application to open a cannabis cultivation facility in a warehouse zoned for that purpose on Muller Road.
“Our application is 100% compliant and our location is within the zoning,” applicant George Lutfey said. “We are being intentionally delayed so that our conditional license expires.”
The motion to repeal the ordinances has been tabled, but the debate has continued at several meetings as council members express second thoughts.
Councilman John McCann has been the most vocal, advising fellow members to “follow the science” of cannabis health risks and refuse to let marijuana businesses come to the borough. In 2020, 62% of borough residents voted to legalize adult recreational marijuana in the statewide referendum.
“I personally will never contribute to the deleterious effect on the public health,” McCann said last week.
But Councilman Pat Pignatelli said his concern had more to do with “the state making the rules as they go along” since it was legalized in 2021.
“I think that’s what’s scary for councils, that whatever the rule is today can be changed next week, next month,” Pignatelli said.
Councilman Eric Kulmala characterized the state’s approach to marijuana regulation as “building the plane while they’re trying to fly it.”
“I had questions about odor,” Kulmala said. “Turns out the state doesn’t have persons in place or enforcement to deal with this. And now here we are faced with a tort claim.”
Democratic Mayor Linda Schwager said she wants more discussion and a public hearing before the ordinances are repealed by the Republican council. She cited the borough requirement that cannabis companies give 2% of their gross income to pay down the borough’s debt, and the possibility that cannabis companies in need of water could help defray costs of a state-mandated water purchase program.
“We need the money,” Schwager said Wednesday. “We have a commercial area by West Oakland Avenue and on the other side of Route 287 which is unusable for any residents. Financially, it was a win-win.”
Schwager said the repeal would be on the council’s agenda Wednesday.
The Borough Council originally voted to ban all six classes of cannabis business on June 9, 2021. Schwager issued the first veto of her three terms in office on the ban vote, but the council voted two weeks later to override that veto, expressing concern at the time that the state had yet to adopt rules and regulations regarding cannabis in New Jersey.
VETO OVERRIDEOakland council overrides mayor’s veto of ordinance banning all marijuana businesses
Still, the council unanimously approved three ordinances regulating marijuana businesses in December 2021, establishing four zones in which five types of non-retail cannabis businesses would be allowed: cultivation, manufacturing, wholesale, distributor and delivery. Retail sales were not included.
Retail sales opened at 12 New Jersey locations in April, but municipalities have largely voted against allowing them. In December 2021, Mahwah considered an application for a retail store at 231 Route 17 north — just south of the West Ramapo Avenue exit ramp — a quarter-mile from the township’s high school sports fields on the west side of the highway. The application was withdrawn without explanation last March.
Residents can view a video of the hourlong Feb. 8 council meeting debate on YouTube starting at the two-hour mark.
