The Jersey City Council ജwill consider a myriad of cannabis-related regulations after unanimously introducing an ordinance that discusses cannabis zoning, taxation, fees, and more.
At the same meeting, a food vendor, responsible for feeding the city’s youth in the summer, and over 200 food insecure people throughout the COVID-19🧸 pandemic, cameꦺ under fire.
Cannabis regulations
Under the introduced ordinance, all𝓰 six cannabis licenses will be permitted in Jersey City, but they must adhere to certain regulations and pay a licensing fee.
The application fee for municipal support of cannabis establishments and distributors will be $2,500. Annual fees for cannabis cultivator, manufacturer, distributor, and wholesaler licens💜es will be $5,000. Annual fees for a cannabis retailer license will be set at $15,000, and a cannabis delivery license will be set at $2,500. An annual license fee for cannabis consumption is the most expensive, at $25,000.
The city𒆙 will impose a municipal user tax of 2 percent of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis manufacturer and cannabis retailer as well as a tax of 1 percent of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis wholesaler.
Should a cannabis establishment fail to pay the tax when due, the city will impose a lien on the property for the unpaid balance 😼and accrued interest.
The rev🏅enues from the user tax will be split evenly between the Jersey City Pu🍸blic School District and social equity programs, according to the ordinance.
A Cannabis Fund Commit༺tee will be established iꦡn future legislation. It will determine the allocation of the funding from this Cannabis Fund based on the needs of the community on an annual basis.
As far as where the establishments can be located, the ordinance states that cannabis cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors will be conditionally permitted in in all industrial zones, light industrial zones or industrial overlays as well as the Highway Commercial Zone (HC) along Tonnele Avenue. They can not be co-located with any residential building on the same lot. Those classified as a micro businesses will be conditi☂onally permitted in the Commercial/Automotive (C/A) or Highway Commercial (HC) Zones.
Cannabis retailers will be condit𝕴ionally allowed Neighborhood Commercial (NC), Palisade Avenue Mixed Use Multi-Family Attach🎐ed Housing District (R-2D), Commercial/Automotive (C/A), Highway Commercial (HC), Waterfront Planned Development (WPD), Central Business District (CBD), and Office/Residential (O/R) Zones.
Consumption of cannabis will not be permitted in any public place indoors or outdoors, including 🐼sidewalks, parks, and pedestrian plazas,
The 🍸ordinance stipulates standards for each cannabis establishment such as parking requirements, odor mitigation, security regulations, hours of operation, and more.
The regula🀅tions come after New Jerseyans voted last November to legalize recreational cannabis, authorizing the growth, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, preparing, packaging, transferring, and retail purchasing and consumption of it for those over 21.
Through the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act, municipalities m🤪ay adopt legislation regulating cannabis establishments, but they must enact the legislation before August 21.
If they don🅠’t, the state default regulations will apply for the next five years.
Not fit for a cat
Council President Joyce Watterman instructed her council colleagues to make surprise visits to various summer recreation sites to inspect the children’s food as the vendor Red Rabbit LLC came under council scrut𒊎iny.
This comes after activist and Ward F council candidate Frank Gilmore posted on social media last week complaints about poor t💎asting and unrefrigerated food delivered by a U-Haul truck🧸.
“Is there a continued plan for improvement because I visited the sites today myself,” said Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh. “I tasted the food, and personally, I wouldn’t feed it to a stray cat.”
According to Rhys Powell, CEO and founder of Red Rabbit, the delivery🦩 truck ha💝d refrigeration issues which have since been addressed.
“When the food arrived, it was rejected by the site, which is proper protocol to ensure the safety of the kids,” said Powell, adding that they have since purchased four refrigerated trucks, and are visiting each of the 52 recreation 𓆉sites to ensure they have coolers and ice and to get ✃feedback on the food.
“It felt fake𓆉,” said Saleh. “The muffin tasted like Styrofoam. I probably wou🥀ld have rather eaten the Styrofoam.”
Feed Back
Powell said, “We have been getting lots of feedback from the sites, and a lot of them are very happ🌌y with the food that we are serving. We understand that not everyone enjoyed each meal, but that is our goal. All of our meals are cooked here in our kitchen. We are 🐻not using anything that is processed or made in a factory, and so our chefs can make adjustments very easily.”
Several council people noted that the contract on the agenda was not for the summer program but rather to feed over 200 food insecure peo🍨ple, noting that this program by the same company did not solicit any complaints.
But Saleh said that those who n෴eed the food might be unlikely to come forward.
“They don’t have the option to complain about it,” heღ said. “Why bite the hand that feeds you?”
The council v💜oted to extend the contract to feed Jersey City’s food insecure residents until December for $410,000.
Councilmembers Saleh, James Solomon, and 💫Rolando Lavarro voted 🍰no to the resolution’s adoption.
For updates on this and other stories follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Marilyn Baer can be reached at [email protected].
