{"id":14724,"date":"2019-05-17T03:20:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T07:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=14724"},"modified":"2019-05-17T03:20:37","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T07:20:37","slug":"brick-planning-board-to-determine-course-of-medical-marijuana-facility-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2019\/05\/brick-planning-board-to-determine-course-of-medical-marijuana-facility-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Planning Board to Determine Course of Medical Marijuana Facility Approval"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The location where a medical marijuana facility will be proposed in Brick Township. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Is a medical marijuana grow house a farm?<\/p>\n

That question will be at the heart of a hearing scheduled for May 30 to determine whether a smooth or rocky path awaits Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care (JSTHC) as the fledgling medical cannabis provider attempts to gain permission to build a 48,000 square foot grow cultivation center in the township\u2019s Rural Residential (RR1) zone. Earlier this year, JSTHC abandoned plans to incorporate a cannabis dispensary at their proposed site, 385 Adamston Road, a former OceanFirst Bank branch.<\/p>\n

It may not seem like a pressing issue \u2013 which board, zoning or planning, will be tasked with granting or denying the company\u2019s application \u2013 but it may well represent the most crucial legal question JSTHC will face. If the application\u2019s venue is switched to the planning board from the zoning board, the move makes it easier for the facility to be approved since a supermajority vote will no longer be required and the narrow criteria under which a use variance can be issued no longer applies. Farms are a permitted use in the RR1 zone, however it is likely that neighbors who have hired attorneys to object to the application will argue that a medical cannabis cultivation facility does not conform to Brick\u2019s zoning ordinance.<\/p>\n

According to the township code, the RR1 zone permits \u201ccustomary and conventional farming operations.\u201d Additionally, it permits \u201ccustomary farm buildings for the storage of products or equipment or for the processing of farm products and which are located on the same parcel as the principal use.\u201d<\/p>\n

The board will be tasked with determining whether JSTHC\u2019s proposed use of the property is, indeed, a farming operation. If they determine it is, the planning board will take jurisdiction of the case and the applicant will no longer need to obtain a use variance for the project. If the board determines the application does not fit the ordinance\u2019s definition of a farm, the case would remain pending before the zoning board (formally known as the Board of Adjustment) and would require supermajority approval of the use variance, which is governed by a slew of criteria under the state\u2019s Municipal Land Use Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position is that we are a farm, and farming is a permitted use, so there\u2019s going to be an interpretation,\u201d said Anne Davis, co-owner of JSTHC. \u201cIt is a matter of law only for them to decide, \u2018are we a farm or are we not a farm?\u2019 If we are a farm, we proceed. If we\u2019re not a farm, we go before a judge to challenge that determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, an attorney by trade, stressed that the determination hearing is not like previous hearings on the company\u2019s application where substantive matters were discussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a matter of public opinion, it\u2019s a matter of law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the hearing will focus only on the jurisdictional aspects of the case rather than the question of whether the application should be approved.<\/p>\n

The bitter battle between JSTHC\u2019s owners and neighboring residents, however, is expected to spill over into the hearing regardless of the nature of the proceedings. A Facebook page<\/a> that represents opposition to the project is rallying members of the public to attend the meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. at Civic Plaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need all to come out and support our neighborhood,\u201d a post on the page said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t gone away! Time to round the troops!\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis told Shorebeat she would not be attending the meeting since it is dealing only with procedural matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objectors are hyping it up to be a continued hearing on a marijuana dispensary, and that\u2019s just not true,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is a medical marijuana grow house a farm? That question will be at the heart of a hearing scheduled for May 30 to determine whether a smooth or rocky path awaits Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care (JSTHC) as the fledgling medical cannabis provider attempts to gain permission to build a 48,000 square foot grow cultivation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,1649],"tags":[24,3116,3531,2804],"class_list":["post-14724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-local-business","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-cannabis","tag-jersey-shore-therapeutic-health-care","tag-medical-marijuana"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/mmj_disp12.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-3Pu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}