Media Release
Contact FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kevin C. Rabago, Sr.
(856) 451-3407
BRIDGETON APPROVES PUBLIC QUESTION ON CANNABIS FOR
NOVEMBER ELECTION
With the issue of legalizing marijuana in New Jersey being
a much-debated subject at all levels including state government, among
municipalities, interest groups, the business community, public health
advocates, and law enforcement, Bridgeton mayor Albert Kelly thinks it’s
important to give residents a chance to be heard and City Council agrees.
By a 4-0 vote, Bridgeton City Council on Tuesday approved
a resolution from Kelly that asks the County Clerk to include the nonbinding cannabis-related
public questions on Bridgeton’s general election ballots this November as
permitted by N.J.S.A 19:37-1. While the results are nonbinding and the
questions focus on whether or not to allow retail facilities to operate in the
city when and if marijuana becomes legal in the state, Kelly believes that it
is important to let the public have a say on the issue.
“The statutes allow for a public question to gauge voter
sentiment and while the results are nonbinding, that doesn’t mean the results
are unimportant. As officials elected by the people of this community, we need
to consider and be informed by the thoughts and opinions of the voters and that
means giving them opportunities to be heard”, said Kelly.
If accepted and placed on the ballot by the County Clerk
as anticipated, the questions would ask whether or not to allow retail
facilities, including cultivation and distribution facilities, to operate
within city limits and if so, whether such facilities should be confined to
industrial-zoned areas within the city.
While municipalities lack standing as to whether or not
to legalize marijuana, a municipality does have standing as it relates to
zoning and whether or not to allow retail, cultivation, or distribution
operations and where such facilities can locate. To date three counties and just
over 2 dozen communities around New Jersey have approved measures dealing with
cannabis-related businesses with some towns implementing outright bans and others
modifying their zoning laws.
“There are many things to consider, from health and law
enforcement aspects to economic and tax-related impacts but it seems to me,
before amending specific ordinances, that the first step is to create a vehicle
where the voters can weigh in with a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down vote and that’s
what we seek to do in November” said Kelly.
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