Secaucus Adds Zone Where Marijuana Can Be Sold, Now Closer to Town

SECAUCUS, NJ — The Secaucus town Council is very close to expanding the zoning in town where marijuana can be sold.

Secaucus will now allow retail marijuana sales to take place along Wood Avenue, behind Meadowlands Plaza hotel and La Reggia restaurant. The town will allow retail pot to be sold on a five-lot block, which includes 30 Wood Avenue, directly behind the hotel.

The ordinance has to be approved on its second and final reading, which is scheduled to take place at the next Council meeting June 25.

A Missouri-based marijuana store called Illicit Gardens plans to open there, and already signed a lease to rent space at 30 Wood Avenue, said Mayor Mike Gonnelli.

They plan to open before the end of the year. Illicit Gardens bought the marijuana license from Harmony dispensary on Castle Road, which closed in November.

Here is how this all came to be:

In 2020, by a popular vote of its residents, the state of New Jersey legalized recreational marijuana. There was already a medical marijuana shop in Secaucus (Harmony), at 500 Castle Road. Once legalization was approved, Harmony and other marijuana businesses wanted to expand into recreational sales.

Because of this, the town of Secaucus had to change the zoning. In 2022, the town Council voted to allow marijuana to be sold in one very specific and isolated part of town only: A collection of five lots centered around 500 Castle Road.

At the time, three Council members — Orietta Tringali, Jim Clancy and Bill McKeever — all voted against it. Tringalli told Patch at the time she voted no because: "I'm just worried about the kids. We already have a vaping problem in schools. Now we are putting legal pot on them. I know you have to be 21 to legally buy (pot) in New Jersey, but I'm just worried. Marijuana can really impact brain development in young people."

Despite their three "no" votes, the zoning change was approved, and Harmony expanded into recreational sales.

However, things really went south in the past two years at Harmony: There have been multiple media reports of infighting, financial trouble and its CEO Shaya Brodchandel was fired in 2023. Also last year, a new owner purchased 500 Castle Road and forbade any marijuana business from operating in the building, said Secaucus town administrator Gary Jeffas.

Harmony permanently closed in November.

Jeffas said Harmony paid about $275,000 in taxes to the town each year. Gonnelli has said he is eager to keep that revenue stream open.

"The council was aware of all of these — shall we say — issues at Harmony well before November, and the council has been discussing since before November if we should expand the zone where we allow marijuana sales," said Jeffas.

Illicit Gardens purchased Harmony’s assets, which included its coveted (and expensive) license from the state of New Jersey to sell pot, and its marijuana growing equipment (Harmony had plans to not just sell marijuana, but also grow it in greenhouses on site).

"We didn’t acquire a company to just sit on a license. We have a responsibility to our investors to try and start to monetize that acquisition as quickly as possible," Illicit chief operating officer Adam Diltz told NJ.com this week.

Ordinance first introduced in March, same three as in 2022 voted against it

All of this is to explain why, at the March 26 meeting, an ordinance was first introduced by Councilman Rob Costantino and seconded by John Gerbasio to expand the zone where marijuana can be sold in Secaucus.

The ordinance was approved on first reading by a majority vote, but again the same three Council reps voted against it as in 2022: Tringali, Clancy and McKeever.

Jeffas said the town was "extremely limited" as to where it can allow marijuana sales, and Wood Avenue was "basically the only place."

"Existing town and state zoning laws say it cannot be sold within 1,000 feet of a school, a daycare, a house of worship and so on," he said. "We were looking at putting it in the area down by AJ's (the local go-go bar), but the Hindu temple is close to there. So a lot of places were rejected."

This Patch reporter pointed out that Wood Avenue is much closer to the center of town than Castle Road, but Gonnelli said he disagreed.

"It's a dead end off Meadowlands Parkway," said the mayor. "It's not in the center of town, it's in the outskirts of town. You can spin this any way you want to, but to me, this is about the taxes. We are trying to keep taxes low in this town, and this is about income to the town that we need."

"I am not a pot smoker," the mayor continued. "But I did it for the revenue. It's a lot of money. If you ride down Rt. 17 you're going to start seeing the (pot) stores in Hasbrouck Heights, etc. 'Get off here and buy pot.' I don't see a difference between Castle Road and Wood Avenue."

So, there will now be 2 zones in town where marijuana can be sold

The zoning change is scheduled for its final hearing at the Council meeting June 25.

Should it be approved, there will now be two zones in Secaucus where pot can be sold:

• The five lots around 30 Wood Avenue (It does not include the strip mall where Subway is located, nor does it include the Wendy's area.)
• And the five lots around and across the street from 500 Castle Road

Should the landlord of 500 Castle Road change their mind or a new landlord purchases the site, zoning still allows pot to be sold there, said Jeffas.

There is a second pot business, Floro Secaucus, that has been trying to open for years now in the existing pet cremation business across the street from 500 Castle Road. Floro is still waiting on their license from the state, which they have been trying to obtain for several years now.

The town of Secaucus will only allow two marijuana businesses to operate at one time.

Even though Illicit Gardens signed a lease to rent 30 Wood Avenue, they still have to be approved by the Secaucus Cannabis Board, which monitors pot sales in town. Jeffas and Police Chief Dennis Miller sit on that board.

Get more info on Floro Secaucus, the pot store that seeks to open by the pet cremation business on Castle Road: More Info. On 2nd Secaucus Pot Shop That Seeks To Open