WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Township Council voted at its April 5 meeting to rescind a recreational cannabis license that had been approved at a previous meeting, saying that the original application presented for approval by Garden State Natural Green Inc. did not reflect the reality of how the company was structured. The license, which was approved on March 15, was contingent on speaking with the owner. The resolution to rescind passed with a vote of 4-1; Council President Susan McCartney cast the opposing vote.
“The task force focused priority on applications that would push forward the social justice and equity piece of the cannabis legislation,” Councilwoman Cindy Matute-Brown, who along with Councilwoman Michelle Casalino sits on West Orange’s Cannabis Task Force and Advisory Committee, said at the meeting. “We wanted to do our part to ensure that the state did have qualified applicants that were of diverse backgrounds, including women.”
The township’s cannabis ordinance requires two approvals to obtain a license: one initial approval from the council and another after an applicant’s state license has been approved. The second approval from the council, according to Matute-Brown, is more in-depth than the initial approval.
“In that process, we did like the application that Garden State provided,” she said. “We ask for all of those that we are going to recommend to the council for support to meet with the task force, because we want the opportunity to see who it is that we are looking to support and understand that we want good community partners. That entails discussion beyond the paper applications, which are quite extensive.”
The owner of the proposed business was not available when the task force requested due to travel commitments overseas; the task force recommended to the council to approve the application with the condition that the owner speak with the task force at a later date. During the conversation with the owner after the March 15 application approval, Matute-Brown said it became clear the owner was unfamiliar with the cannabis legislation.
“I did ask, ‘Can you tell us specifically what you know about cannabis and the cannabis legislation?’ and there was a response that focused on security,” she said. “Security is part of our concern, but it’s also our concern that we have good community partners. We want the representation you make on the application to be the representation you make in person. That’s not what happened.”
Mark Moon, an attorney for the township who works on cannabis legislation, said at the April 5 meeting that the decision to rescind the application is a reflection of how seriously the task force is taking cannabis license applications.
“That they feel strongly enough to come together and agree that this is the right thing to do I think says a lot about their position on this,” Moon said. “The concern is whether or not the presentation set forth in the application that was presented to the task force and the council accurately reflects how the entity exists and operates. Based on that discrepancy, the members feel that it’s not appropriate to proceed with this process. It seemed disingenuous to allow them to go through the state process knowing that they’ve essentially lost the support of two members of the council.”
Casalino apologized to the other council members for presenting the application to them before having interviewed the owner, saying that it wouldn’t happen again. She said she felt rushed based on the state deadlines for beginning to issue licenses, which have changed in the month since the March meeting.
“This is new to us. We’re trying to find our way with it,” Casalino said at the April 5 meeting.
Councilman Bill Rutherford voted against the initial application in March for separate reasons, as he said at the April 5 meeting, but applauded the task force for deciding to ask the council to rescind the application.
“I think it’s important, as Councilwoman Casalino said, to not rush,” Rutherford said. “We’re being held accountable for this very new space we are moving into. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity to provide revenue for the town, but the town is counting on us to do this kind of homework. I think we need to figure out how to avoid this happening again.”
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