The Pennington Council will have to decide soon on which applicant receives a resolution of support for a recreational cannabis retail establishment in the borough.
A special meeting will be held on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. where there will be three confirmed applicants presenting to the council.
“We have received three applications for individuals who would like to pursue a cannabis retail license in Pennington Borough. We think the best way to do this is schedule a special meeting to consider all three applicants on the same night,” Mayor James Davy said at the Borough Council meeting on Feb. 7.
“We would give them a set of questions for them to answer requesting information that they will need to provide the borough, so that the Borough Council has a full complete package of information,” he said.
Applicants will have to submit the information requested by a 12 p.m. deadline on Feb. 23.
Any other applicants interested can present for a resolution of support at the Feb. 28 meeting, the applicants would also have to provide the information requested by the deadline.
Following the Feb. 28 special meeting, the Borough Council at its March 7 regular meeting will issue a resolution of support.
The Borough Council can only give one resolution of support to the applicants that present at the meeting.
According to a memo released in December by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the commission stressed that municipalities limiting the number of cannabis businesses allowed to operate within its borders should not issue letters or resolutions of support in excess of the number of cannabis businesses allowed to operate in the municipality.
Pennington only allows one cannabis retail business in the borough.
No more than a total of two cannabis retailers and medical dispensaries are permitted in the business highway zone and the office business zone, one place in the two zones will have to be reserved for a medical cannabis dispensary.
According to the ordinance, if a medical dispensary does not attempt to locate in the business highway zone and the office business zone the total number of number of retailers allowed in the two zones is one.
When the Borough Council adopted its amended cannabis ordinance opting in, cannabis retailers, delivery services and medical cannabis dispensaries became conditional uses in the business highway zone and the office business zone.
Cannabis delivery services are also a conditional use in the mixed use zone. Additionally, Pennington does not permit consumption areas in the borough.
Pennington’s prohibited uses in any zone of the borough include cannabis cultivators, cannabis manufacturers, cannabis wholesalers and cannabis distributors, medical cannabis cultivators, medical cannabis manufacturers and clinical registrants, according to the ordinance.
In the Town Center Zone, cannabis retailers and medical cannabis dispensaries are also prohibited from having establishments.
Some of the borough regulations adopted include a recreation cannabis retailer or medical dispensary having no more than 2,500 square feet of floor area; the design of any building or structure is to conform to the area’s character; controlled operating hours for a licensed retail facility (9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily); and the regulation that cannabis products cannot be visible from a public sidewalk, public street or right-of-way or any other public place.