Plans Move Forward For Hoboken Marijuana Dispensary

HOBOKEN, NJ — The Jersey City-based land use consulting firm of Dresdner Robin recently completed zoning analyses for a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in Hoboken, after the Planning Board approved the plan in July, a spokesman for the firm said recently. It's now likely to open by the end of the calendar year, a spokesman said.

The location will offer prescription pickup and delivery, but will not allow use or cultivation on the premises, representatives said.

The Hoboken City Council first voted on revisions to the zoning ordinance for that area back in January. The Planning Board voted to grant conditional use for the site at a special meeting on July 14 (minutes here).

The 5,000-square-foot site of Harmony Dispensary will be the 10th dispensary in the state and the second in Hudson County.

It'll be located two blocks from the Hoboken train station at 93-95 Hudson St., a spot that formerly housed an urgent and primary care facility.

Under New Jersey’s Compassionate Care Act, marijuana restrictions were revised last year, allowing greater access to “alternative medical treatment facilities."

Harmony Dispensary, which has a headquarters and a primary retail-and-cultivation location in Secaucus, N.J., applied for the retail-only Hoboken site in 2018 after new regulations allowed existing licensed alternative medical treatment facilities to open “satellite” locations, a representative for Dresdner Robin said.

Charles Heydt, assistant director of planning services at Dresdner Robin, said, “This is a truly unique process. These medical marijuana treatment facilities often involve revisions to land use and zoning regulations in order to properly accommodate this use.”

New factors that Dresdner Robin helped evaluate include parking, a restriction of onsite consumption, and an enhanced security system. The firm also carried out a neighborhood impact study which evaluated parking impacts, noise, and odor.

The architect on the project is Nastasi Architects of Hoboken. The associated law firm is Scarinci Hollenbeck of Lyndhurst.

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