Potential retail sales could go up in smoke with ordinance proposed by committee
Stephen Finn
The Sun
On Monday, Nov. 19, Cinnaminson’s Township Committee voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance banning retail sales of marijuana within the township should such sales become legal in New Jersey, which given recent developments at the state level, could be a real possibility.
On Nov. 26 a joint committee in the legislature approved Senate Bill 2703 to regulate, tax and legalize marijuana. The bill will now advance to the floors of the Senate and the Assembly for amendments and final votes before possibly reaching the desk of Gov. Murphy.
Given these developments, many towns are having similar discussions about whether to allow sales within their borders. A public hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for the next committee meeting on Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Despite the proposed ban, Mayor Donald Brauckmann says township officials are listening to both sides of the issue. According to Brauckmann, the proposed ordinance came after they heard from a number of concerned citizens at committee meetings as well as community leaders and and business groups.
“Although nobody can ever speak for every resident, any good elected official should be able to accurately gauge community reactions to any proposals if they have their finger on the pulse of what they believe their residents want and don’t want,” said Brauckmann. “Our committee members truly believed that this kind of use was not something that the majority of our residents wanted mixed in with our existing shopping centers.”
Following the Nov. 19 meeting, Cinnaminson residents took to local social media avenues such as the Facebook page Cinnaminson Neighbors and Friends, a group open only to residents of the township, where a number of discussions were sparked on the topic.
Resident Edward Watson III created a poll on the page to gauge the opinions of his fellow citizens that garnered more than 500 responses. The results of the poll late last week stood at 433 for allowing the legal sale of marijuana in Cinnaminson and 79 against.
“I felt that having a dispensary would benefit Cinnaminson with the taxes it would collect,” said Watson. “I read a lot of posts going back and forth on the topic so I decided to create a poll to get a better understanding of the Cinnaminson residents’ thoughts.”
Watson doesn’t believe the proposed ban accurately represents the wishes of the general public given discussions he has had with other residents and the results of the poll.
According to Brauckmann, however, he and the township committee are also taking these online discussions into consideration.
“Our township committee does keep a close eye on social media pages for community reaction on any issue and this topic was a very polarizing item with strong thoughts on both sides of the debate since the ordinance was introduced. From hearing these comments, we believe there is a segment of our community that feels they weren’t properly represented because we didn’t get their direct feedback on something they are very passionate about,” said Brauckmann.
The mayor encourages residents to attend the upcoming public hearing where decisions can be either reinforced or reversed based on information that is shared.
As for the possibility of a tax benefit, a driving force behind many of the arguments for legal sales, Brauckmann isn’t so optimistic.
“The N.J. legislature has a history of authorizing local specialty taxes one day and rescinding them the next. The 2 percent proposed tax on retail sales will only go towards the municipal portion of your total tax bill which is only approximately 18 percent, so we’re not certain if any possible gain will be worth it when compared to the other potential negative impacts on our shopping centers or resources,” said Brauckmann.
The proposed ban would affect only retail sales of marijuana to the general public. According to Brauckmann, township officials are open to other possibilities that may present themselves should legalization pass.
“It should be noted that all of township committee is not opposed to medical dispensaries as we all know the drug is very helpful to people for treatment when properly prescribed,” said Brauckmann. “We are also actively taking steps to try to bring a marijuana cultivation facility to Cinnaminson which be believe will have a more significant impact on taxes than any retail option ever could.”
