Public Hearing On Cannabis Facility In Red Bank Scheduled Next Week

RED BANK, NJ - Red Bank residents may be seeing more green if a public hearing on a cannabis growing facility is successful before the planning board next week.

Applicant Susan Duckworth proposes the site at 15 East Leonard Street to be converted from an existing warehouse/commercial space to a cannabis growing facility.

Cannabis businesses are legally allowed to operate in the borough, under an ordinance passed unanimously by the borough council in 2021.

The borough will collect a 2 percent tax from cultivator, manufacturer and retailer sales and 1 percent from wholesalers. The full ordinance can be viewed here.

Homebuilder Charlie Farkouh applied earlier this year to convert an East Leonard Street warehouse into a growing facility, according to Red Bank Green. However, per the publication, that application was denied due to variance requirements.

It was not immediately clear if the facility would cater to recreational and/or medicinal marijuana users.

New Jersey voters approved the legalization, cultivation and retail sale of recreational marijuana for those 21 and older in 2020, though it took nearly a year later for the Red Bank Council to decide what the borough’s rules for pot smoking would be.

According to the 2021 borough ordinance, restrictions for retailers include not being able to have any cannabis plants, products or paraphernalia visible from the windows, not being able to operate outside of the timeframe of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and having to provide a detailed security plan that has to be approved by the police department.

There are also zoning and various other restrictions applied to any cannabis business, including cultivators, delivery services, distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers.

Smoking marijuana in public spaces — including public streets, sidewalks and parking lots — is forbidden, as will any form of underaged possession.

You can view the planning board’s full Dec. 5 agenda here.