Cannabis Business Prohibition Ordinance Up For Vote In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ — Like many New Jersey municipalities, Chatham Borough's ordinance up for public hearing and adoption at Monday night’s meeting would prohibit the operation of recreational cannabis businesses within the municipality at the present time, until regulations of these businesses are better known.

Borough Attorney Steve Kleinman told the council at its last meeting that well over 50 percent of New Jersey municipalities - and even upward of 80 to 90 percent, in spite of the overwhelming support of the November 2020 vote to allow New Jersey adults to use recreational marijuana - are in opposition to permitting marijuana businesses within their borders, for the time being.

Kleinman said both New Jersey’s League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys, are suggesting municipalities take this stance because of the uncertainties of the rules that the cannabis commission plans to set into place on Aug. 22.

“We don’t even know what the regulations will say,” Kleinman advised the council.

Click below to listen to the discussion from the May 24 meeting on the cannabis prohibition ordinance, beginning at approximately two hours and six minutes into that meeting.

Borough of Chatham Council Meeting May 24, 2021 from Chatham Borough on Vimeo.

Council President Carolyn Dempsey asked Kleinman for more background, stating though more than 50 percent of borough residents voted in support of permitting adult use of recreational marijuana within the Garden State, those same voters may not necessarily be in favor of businesses opening up in the borough.

Kleinman clarified that under the law, residents are allowed to have recreational marijuana delivered to their homes, where they are permitted to partake in it there. Individuals, however, are prohibited from smoking recreational cannabis in borough buildings and parks, with restrictions similar to tobacco regulations already in place, he said.

He also said there is a “separate regulatory scheme” for medical marijuana businesses, though those would also require a support resolution from the council, before approaching the state for a license.

A municipality that allows cannabis businesses within their borders, must stick with it for five years and cannot make restrictions once a business has been approved to open its doors within the borough, even if there are difficulties with the business.

Should municipalities adopt a prohibition ordinance, it will give them time to analyze the regulations and gather community feedback, said Councilman Len Resto.

“We’re looking to opt out because we really are looking to make sure that this law is put into effect and the the mechanism exists to regulate it, but also considers the desires of the residents of the borough,” Resto said.

The vote to pass the ordinance on first reading was nearly unanimous, except for Councilwoman Irene Treloar, who voted in dissent of the prohibition ordinance.

“I think we’re taking an overly-conservative position on this,” Treloar said, advocating for the allowance of wholesalers and distributors in Chatham Borough, with a 1 percent tax revenue for each.

Treloar said she did not see a downside on it, in what she called an “unlikely event” that a business of this type were to open in Chatham Borough.

“We want to get this right, because it’s a very important piece of legislation,” Kleinman said.

Mayor Thaddeus J. Kobylarz said during a meeting in April, he asked Kleinman to “begin developing, formulating and drawing up a possible ordinance or set of ordinances that would address the issue of opting out.”

The meeting on Monday, June 14 begins at 6 p.m. on Zoom and Facebook Live on the borough’s Facebook Page. Click here for more information about the Chatham Borough virtual meetings.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.