FRANKLIN —The Borough Council has banned all forms of retail cannabis operations within the borough. They plan to revisit the issue at a future date.
The ban, approved in a 5-0 vote Thursday, preserves the borough’s ability to later accept an application for any form of retail operation.
Towns throughout the state have until Aug. 21 to adopt ordinances regulating marijuana sales or accept them by default. The deadline was set for 180 days after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a series of bills legalizing the industry to allow town officials time to research their options and adopt an ordinance.
Many towns throughout the state enacted bans in 2018, with Murphy vowing to sign a legalization bill if the legislature could agree on one. Still, the new law canceled out the old bans.
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Municipalities that fail to adopt new ordinances banning some or all the classes of cannabis establishments by the deadline will be unable to do so for the next five years. Towns that adopt ordinances that ban some or all the classes can reverse their decisions, however. Existing businesses would nonetheless be grandfathered in.
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The new borough restriction does not extend to an existing medical marijuana growing operation which has been operating for a few years.
The council’s action prohibits “the operation of retail cannabis establishments” as well as “retail cannabis social clubs.” It includes selling and reselling of cannabis and cannabis items as well as consumption areas, retail stores, and retail marijuana growing and cultivation facilities.
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Since April, officials in more than three dozen municipalities in nearby Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties have introduced or adopted ordinances restricting all six classes of cannabis business: cultivator, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, retailer and deliverer.
