By PETE WALTON
The Neptune City Land Use Board has approved an application by a marijuana retailer to set up a retail store in the shopping center at 300 W. Sylvania Ave.
The board took the action at its most recent meeting.
“The application is a permitted use and did not require any variances,” said Mayor Rachel McGreevy, who is also a member of the land use board. “We expect construction permits to be requested soon.”
Shipwreck’d LLC asked the board to permit the establishment of “a class 5 cannabis retail store as licensed by the State of New Jersey and in compliance with state and local regulations.”
The shopping center is home to Retro Fitness and a Dollar General store. The marijuana outlet is to be located in unit 6 of the center.
In March of last year, the Borough Council approved an ordinance limiting the legal sale of marijuana to the highway commercial zone in the westernmost corner of Neptune City.
The northern boundary of the zone runs from a point opposite the eastern Route 33 entrance to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and extends westward on Route 33 just past Brighton Avenue to the border with the township of Neptune.
Designating the revised permitted zone ended proposed plans for cannabis retail sales near West Sylvania and Steiner avenues, an area where Shipwreck’d and another company considered setting up shop.
The land use board previously said that the updated ordinance complied with the borough’s master plan.
Several towns, including nearby Neptune, have benefitted from tax revenue generated by retail sales of marijuana.
According to the Neptune City ordinance, any cannabis business must have entrances and exits on Route 33 and would not be permitted “within 200 feet of a borough district zoned as residential.”
“There shall not be any drive-through associated with any Class 5 cannabis retailer,” the ordinance states. Class 5 is the only type of marijuana business which will be permitted in Neptune City.
According to the ordinance, the store can only operate between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.
