Brick Zoners Continue Medical Marijuana Dispensary Hearing

BRICK, NJ -- Brick Township residents wondering whether the township will have the first medical marijuana dispensary in Ocean County will have to wait until November.

The Brick Township Board of Adjustment carried the application from 385 Adamston LLC, the company proposing to turn a former bank into Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care, to a special meeting on Monday, Nov. 19.

That meeting could become moot, however: the state's decision on which companies will receive the six licenses to operate dispensaries is expected to come down Nov. 1. Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care is one of 45 applicants for two available licenses in Central Jersey, said Anne Davis, one of the principals of the company.

The application was carried after nearly three hours of testimony Wednesday night that included intense questioning from members of the public in a standing-room-only meeting at the Brick Township municipal building. The crowd in the room was fairly evenly split between those who support the proposal sporting stickers with green lettering saying "I Support Medical Marijuana In Brick," and residents, primarily from the immediate vicinity, who oppose it.

Most of the testimony presented Wednesday focused on the technical issues surrounding the zoning application, including traffic and stormwater management.

Davis, of Brick, repeated much of the information that had been shared at the informal meeting held with residents on Oct. 3 about plans for the facility, which include a nursing support staff and plans for research into what forms of the marijuana work best for different patients.

In response to rampant rumors being spread via fliers and on social media, Davis did say the company would agree to put in a restriction that the site could never be used for the sale of recreational marijuana.

"We would accept in a resolution that this property would not be used for the sale of non-medical marijuana," said John Paul Doyle, the attorney for 385 Adamston LLC.

The hearing was testy from the get-go and Board Chairman Harvey Langer had to repeatedly remind the audience to quiet down because commentary and applause interfere with the audio recording that is a necessary part of the hearing record.

Residents grilled Davis about why the group chose the Adamston Road location for the dispensary instead of putting it in a shopping center or in an industrial park.

As she had said at the Oct. 3 meeting, Davis said the bank was chosen in part because it has a safe already on the property. She also said the site was chosen because it's set back from the road as opposed to being in a high-traffic area like a shopping center.

Residents asked about the proximity to schools; the closest school is more than 1,000 feet away, which Davis said is a federal requirement. The nearest school is a private facility; the closest Brick Township public school is Osbornville School on Drum Point Road, a mile away.

As one resident pressed Davis yet again on the choice of the former bank, Langer interrupted her, saying the whole reason for the zoning board hearing was for Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care to ask permission to use the bank property for a dispensary.

"We're not just saying that because they want it, we're going to do it," Langer said. "They are doing exactly what you would do if you wanted to do something to your home."

"They are not doing anything out of the ordinary, anything illegal, anything behind anyone's back. That is the reason we're here. We're the ones who will make that decision," Langer said.

Davis said one reason they chose the site was because it was large enough to have the dispensary and the grow facility at the same site. But when pressed by a resident, Davis said that is not a state requirement.

A couple of residents asked why the facility is not in hospital zone, and Davis said that option is discouraged, though not prohibited, by the state.

The area of most concern to the residents, security, was not addressed except in passing, and it was as Doyle was preparing to call David Nase, a 26-year law enforcement officer to testify on the security plan, that Langer halted the hearing.

The hearing will resume on Monday, Nov. 19, a date chosen because Langer said the zoning board is booked solid through November. If Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care receives approval from the state for a license, it has until Nov. 30 to get approval from the township for the facility, Davis said.

You can read more about the questions asked and answers given by clicking here.

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Residents file into the council chamber at the Brick Township municipal building for Wednesday's hearing on the medical marijuana dispensary proposed for Adamston Road. Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff