A n ordinance prohibiting the approval of applications within the municipality if there is violation of federal law was introduced at the Dec. 1 Upper Freehold Township Committee meeting. The ordinance is a result of Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center’s (BATC’s) possible applications before the zoning or planning boards for a facility to grow medical marijuana.
Mayor Lorisue Horsnall Mount said marijuana use is against the law. “I don’t know why we have to deal with this. It’s black and white,” she said. While medical marijuana is legal under the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, it is still illegal on the federal level. The public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for the Dec. 15 meeting, to be held at a larger venue than the municipal building in anticipation of a large turnout.
The proposed ordinance states that a criterion for approval by the Township of Upper Freehold zoning official, construction official, other applicable township employee, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Board of Health or Planning Board, is that an applicant must comply with all federal laws or the application will be deemed non-compliant.
At the meeting, Assemblyman Ron Dancer told the governing body that he plans to introduce a similar ordinance next week at the Plumsted Township Committee meeting. Dancer, who will step down as mayor of Plumsted at the end of this year after 22 years in office, also said he plans to introduce an Assembly bill titled “An Act concerning local government approval of alternative treatment centers applications to operate…” on Dec. 5.
Dancer said it is important to introduce the bill even though it was a “lame-duck” session.
“Home rule rules — you know your community and town better than the state does,” he said.
His bill would authorize municipalities to require alternative treatment centers to meet higher security standards than required by state law, and to condition land use approval to operate in compliance with local, state and federal laws and regulations.
The township’s special counsel, Eric Bernstein, who drafted the ordinance, told the committee that the New Jersey Department of Agriculture considers marijuana a crop. However, he said the State Agricultural Development Committee, which oversees the Farmland Preservation Program, has not yet decided whether marijuana may be grown on preserved farmland. Whether marijuana growing falls under the state’s Right to Farm Act is also undecided, according to Bernstein.
Mount said she has spoken to Gov. Chris Christie about the situation.
“I explained to him that we have BATC knocking on our door and residents with a lot of questions,” she said, adding that she has asked for a meeting with Christie.
Mount said Christie had been “handed a mess” with the medical marijuana law, and that it was his responsibility to figure it out.
Deputy Mayor Bob Faber, whose own farm is in the Farmland Preservation Program, said the contract he signed when his land went into preservation did not mention marijuana as a crop.
Committeeman Robert Frascella asked whether marijuana was a crop or a pharmaceutical product.
“That’s a whole different animal, not farming,” he said .
Committeeman Steve Alexander said he will pay attention to everything Trenton does now, saying the way the medical marijuana decision went down “is politics at its worst.”