Secaucus May Allow Add'l Pot Shops To Open Around Harmony

SECAUCUS, NJ — The Secaucus town Council appears to be doing a 180 on recreational marijuana sales.

At the most recent Council meeting Tuesday night, the council introduced this ordinance that would allow recreational cannabis businesses to open, but only in one very specific part of town — in fact, only in one building.

The town would allow retail pot businesses to open on a maximum of five lots inside the building that currently houses Harmony, the existing medical marijuana dispensary on Castle Road.

"I don't agree with it at all; I'm not for marijuana at all," said Mayor Mike Gonnelli. "But it's really a financial decision. Harmony brings in over $400,000 in taxes a year and I'm going to estimate we're going to get over a million, guaranteed (from recreational pot stores)."

"I don't want it, either," he continued. "But you can't stop it. Gov. Murphy made pot legal in this state. I'm looking at this as income. If we don't find a way to get new income, our taxes are going to go through the roof."

The ordinance is called Ordinance No. 2022-9 and anyone can request a copy of it at town hall.

"We are not allowing five licenses. We limited the area where a cannabis business can operate to five lots in the light industrial area of town, which is where Harmony currently operates," said town administrator Gary Jeffas.

He said the ordinance would "significantly limit the area of operation for a cannabis facility."

Within the building, Secaucus would allow various types of marijuana-related businesses to open, from a retail shop to a facility that grows marijuana indoors and sells it wholesale. Be the first to know important news about YOUR town: https://patch.com/subscribe

No marijuana would be allowed to be grown outdoors, and on-site consumption would not be allowed. Harmony would also now be allowed to sell marijuana for recreational use.

This is quite a change from 2018, when Gonnelli led a charge to ban recreational pot shops from opening within Secaucus town limits. Gonnelli was backed by a unanimous Council vote.

However, Jeffas said Thursday that initial ban was a placeholder. Having that temporary ban in place allowed the town to come up with its own rules on where it would and would not permit recreational pot sales.

"That ban was because the state set a deadline for municipalities to either craft their own ordinance or accept all of the regulations provided for under the state statute, which would have allowed recreation cannabis sales in many areas of town," said Jeffas. "Accordingly, Secaucus, as many municipalities did, passed an ordinance banning recreation sales so that we would have the time to review and craft an ordinance that made sense for our community."

Secaucus was not alone. In the past year that recreational marijuana has become legalized, many NJ towns passed laws banning "pot shops."

Towns said they did that so they could have more control of where retail marijuana stores would open.

In November of 2020, the voters of New Jersey were asked at the ballot box if they wanted to make recreational marijuana legal in the state. And a vast majority said "yes." The vote count was 67 percent in favor of legalizing marijuana, and 32 percent opposed, according to Ballotpedia.

Those who wanted to legalize weed said it would bring in increased tax revenue for the state and towns.

The town of Secaucus would put a two percent tax on all pot sales, except wholesale sales, Jeffas told the Hudson Reporter. And any marijuana business that seeks to open in Secaucus would pay a yearly fee, recurring, of $2,500 to the town.

This major news was first reported in the Hudson Reporter, which attended the Tuesday night Council meeting. Patch did not attend.

Prior: Secaucus Town Council Bans Recreational Marijuana Sales In Town (2018)

What It's Like Inside The Secaucus Medical Marijuana Store (2018)

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