HACKETTSTOWN, NJ – Cannabis cultivation or manufacturing businesses could be permitted in Hackettstown, with a measure on the table for public hearing and final adoption at Thursday’s council meeting.
These businesses would be allowed in the Light Manufacturing district of town, with sales acceptable between facilities, but not directly to consumers.
Municipalities throughout New Jersey were given blanket ordinances from the state to either permit or prohibit cannabis businesses to operate within their boundaries, after Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement, Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act into law on Feb. 22, permitting recreational marijuana within the Garden State. With it, municipalities needed to make a decision by mid-June whether or not to accept cannabis businesses within their borders, with an ordinance adopted per municipality by Aug. 22.
Should a municipality decide to permit cannabis business operations, it cannot change that decision for five years. Some municipalities have decided to prohibit cannabis businesses, until they have gathered more information on zoning questions.
According to Hackettstown’s ordinance, “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.”
The cannabis cultivator or manufacturer, must meet all requirements of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission to operate. To open in Hackettstown’s Light Manufacturing district, the business would need to be the sole business in the facility where it is located, with fencing beginning at seven feet high and appropriate safety and security barriers installed, per state and town regulations.
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