With every day that goes by, New Jersey is – slowly, but surely – becoming a little greener.
Two years after the first legal weed sales began, 42% of all municipalities in New Jersey have opted into the cannabis industry in some shape or form, according to an Asbury Park Press analysis of municipal ordinances in all 564 towns across the state. It's a slight uptick from April 2022, when just 38% of municipalities had opted in, buoyed by a spike of interest in retail dispensaries.
In April 2022, officials in just 135 municipalities had passed ordinances regulating dispensaries. As of this week, there were 166 towns – about 29% of all towns in the state.
"A lot of towns that weren't philosophically opposed to cannabis are trickling back in," said Mike Cerra, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. "I don't know if we'll ever see a wave, but it's going to be a more gradual process."
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In dozens of towns, officials attributed their early opt-outs due to the rushed timeline of the New Jersey marijuana legalization laws. That's what happened in Englishtown.
But after a series of political upsets, then-councilman Daniel Francisco led an effort to repeal the town's 2021 opt-out ordinance. Immediately, the town received a half-dozen requests for endorsem*nts. Regulations were eventually passed, but they're among the more lenient in the state.
All six licensed classes of cannabis businesses are permitted in Englishtown, with dispensaries allowed in all commercial zones and other uses allowed in industrial zones, as long as they receive 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 lawful business and they should be allowed to operate, succeed and prosper here, and we can be a part of that story," said Francisco, elected the town's mayor last year.
Three dispensaries have already received some level of approval by New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, with the first expected to open within a month. A cannabis cultivator and manufacturer is also exploring property in the town.
"We're going to be able to say the product is grown, manufactured and sold in our town, and there's not a lot of other towns that can say that," Francisco said. "We already have entrepreneurs fighting for property in our downtown, asking what they can do next to benefit from the foot traffic from these dispensaries. They haven't even opened their doors yet."
Almost every town that has passed an ordinance opting into the cannabis industry has included a complementary ordinance levying a tax rate of up to 2% on all transactions. Most also charge annual fees and application fees, usually between $5,000 and $20,000, though some towns are charging up to $50,000.
There will always be an entrepreneur willing to pay it because, in many cases, there's no other choice. While only 42% of towns may be allowing cannabis businesses, many of those have restrictions that essentially exile cannabis businesses to industrial or commercial areas on the outskirts.
That may work for a manufacturer or wholesaler, but a retail dispensary relies on visibility and traffic in order to survive.
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Finding a location in a town open to cannabis is the most common struggle reported to Darrin Chandler, Jr., cannabis real estate director at RIPCO.
He usually has one main recommendation: Instead of trying to find space in a town that's already opted in, start lobbying elected officials in a town that's opted out – especially in a pocket of the state that looks like a legal weed desert.
"You have to really build that relationship beforehand, work with them hand-in-hand and show that you're a true community partner, that you're not just going to take the money and run," said Chandler, also the president and COO of Premo Cannabis Co., a dispensary opening in Keyport later this month. "That takes time, and it takes risk capital. But you truly have to be dedicated to this industry instead of looking at it like a money grab."
Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him atmdavis@gannettnj.comor@byMikeDavison Twitter.
