Brick Zoners OK $25K Settlement In Marijuana Dispensary Fight

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Board of Adjustment approved a settlement Wednesday night that will help put an end to a two-year battle over a proposal to put a medical marijuana dispensary at the site of a former bank on Adamston Road.

Under the settlement, Brick Township will pay the owners of 385 Adamston LLC $25,000; in return, 385 Adamston LLC will drop the lawsuit it filed against the township, its Planning Board and zoning board the proposal that started as a medical marijuana dispensary and morphed into a proposed aquaponic lettuce farm.

In addition, the 385 Adamston owners agree they will not file any other applications for a marijuana facility in Brick, or knowingly sell the property to someone who wants to turn it into a marijuana facility.

The planning board and the Township Council will have to approve similar resolutions agreeing to the settlement to finalize it.

Brick banned any form of retail marijuana establishment in an ordinance passed in April in response to New Jersey's legalization of adult use of recreational marijuana.

The medical dispensary application, filed in August 2018, generated considerable conflict in the township as neighbors of the former bank site objected to putting a dispensary across the street from a residential neighborhood.

The property, which sits in the rural residential zone, had been home to a bank for decades, but the owners could not automatically operate a commercial business without approval, and marijuana cultivation, processing and distribution was not a permitted use in any zone.

The battle over the proposal led to heated arguments on social media and at township meetings as the owners tried to get an approval while they also sought a dispensary permit from the state of New Jersey. After the Adamston site was not chosen by the state's medical marijuana program as one to get a permit, the Adamston owners modified their proposal to grow industrial hemp and later, to grow lettuce using an aquaponic system, where the plants grow directly in water in a temperature- and light-controlled environment.

The attorney for 385 Adamston LLC argued the lettuce proposal was a permitted use in the rural residential, but the zoning board rejected that argument, leading to the lawsuit.

The property, which backs up to the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Preserve, was listed for sale a month after the lawsuit was filed. It remained for sale as of Thursday.

Previous reporting on the issue:

• Brick Company Hopes To Open Medical Marijuana Dispensary In Town
• Tension Marks Meeting On Proposed Brick Medical Marijuana Site
• Medical Marijuana Dispensary Proposal Before Brick Zoners
• Brick Zoners Continue Medical Marijuana Dispensary Hearing
• State Delays New Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Decision
• Medical Marijuana Dispensary Proposal Before Brick Zoners Again
• Medical Marijuana Dispensary Proposal In Brick Postponed
• Brick Firm's Medical Marijuana Permit Bid Fails
• Canceled Dispensary Hearing Draws Brick Zoning Board Chair's Ire
• Medical Marijuana Dispensary Shelved In Brick
• Brick Zoning Interpretation Sought On Marijuana Farm
• Brick Councilwoman Rips Activists Over Marijuana Song
• Adamston Farm Owners Claim 'Default Approval' In Brick
• Brick Planners' Attorney Rebukes Lettuce Farm's Approval Claim
• Owners Of Proposed Marijuana Farm Site Sue Brick Zoning Board
• Proposed Marijuana Dispensary Property Put Up For Sale In Brick

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