WOODCLIFF LAKE—Almost half of nearly a dozen residents addressing the Borough Council May 22 told them to remove the potential for a local marijuana dispensary from consideration by a newly formed cannabis exploratory committee and asserted a hypothetical retail dispensary’s negative impacts on borough quality of life.
Nearly 50 residents attended the meeting, with all speakers opposed to a retail cannabis dispensary coming to the borough. Local officials stressed that there were no plans for a cannabis dispensary and that the cannabis committee had not yet held its first meeting.
Other residents told the Borough Council that a cannabis dispensary (or shop) does not belong in the borough and that an online petition started by one resident suggests growing opposition.
An petition started by resident Stephanie Huang five days earlier had gathered 449 signatures by late afternoon on May 22, Huang said.
Huang’s petition reads, “We encourage everyone in Woodcliff Lake, especially those with children — to ask yourselves the following question: Am I OK with having a cannabis dispensary in the backyard of where I live? Although a majority of Woodcliff Lake residents voted to legalize marijuana use, we did not vote to have dispensaries in our neighborhoods.”
“Significant concerns that we have include the following: traffic volumes intensifying, loitering, crowding and lines, increased noise, littering, decreased home valuations, mis-distribution of cannabis to our minors, reputational harm to the town, increase in crime, and harm to our ability to attract other commercial and retail tenants, just to name a few,” reads the petition.
At the May 9 meeting, the council formed a Cannabis Exploratory Committee to investigate the potential tax revenues from hosting any one of six cannabis-related businesses, including growing cannabis plants, storing cannabis and cannabis products, making cannabis products, transporting or delivering cannabis, selling cannabis, and testing cannabis and cannabis products.
This was undertaken, said committee members, due to a dropoff in tax revenues from local hotel tax receipts, as well as changing economic conditions lowering local tax revenues.
Following several residents noting that no local police official was on the exploratory committee, Mayor Carlos Rendo requested a motion to add a local police representative to the committee. The motion was approved, 5-0. Councilwoman Jacqueline Gadaleta was absent.
The Cannabis Exploratory Committee is composed of councilman Richard Schnoll, councilwoman Nicole Marsh, Planning Board Vice Chairman Corrado Belgiovine, Zoning/Code Official Mark Berninger, and Borough Planner Elizabeth Leheny, plus a police official yet to be appointed.
Following the meeting, Marsh said the committee would consider all the public comments and emails they have received, and discuss the suggestion to remove retail dispensaries from consideration.
Both Marsh and Schnoll said they anticipated the committee to meet within the month and said they would report back to the council, and public.
The committee is advisory and meetings are not open to the public. At its conclusion, the committee will likely make a recommendation to the council, and the council will then discuss them at a public meeting.
Earlier, they said they hoped to hire a legal consultant with expertise in the cannabis industry to assist their research into cannabis opportunities. Attorney John Schettino said that the hiring of any consultants must be done in public and come before the council for approval. Schettino also noted that the council does not need to follow the committee’s recommendations.
Rendo said he was opposed to cannabis in the borough, noting he did not sign the petition opposing a dispensary because he may have to vote on the issue.
“If it comes to a vote, I’m voting ‘no’,” said Rendo, who is running for reelection this November.
Jennifer Chernow, a Hills Valley Coalition leader and 17-year resident, reminded the council that marijuana was “one of the things that we work so hard to keep out” of town.
Resident Alex Couto said the borough “should not profit from human misfortune” and said allowing a dispensary would make Woodcliff Lake “known as the drug town of New Jersey.”
Another resident said a retail dispensary would bring in crime and lower home values.
Resident Anna Flores Locke, a nine year-resident, said allowing a marijuana dispensary was “not acceptable” in Woodcliff Lake and her 10-year-old son, Charles, said he did not like marijuana “because it smells bad and makes people crazy.”
Former Councilwoman Nancy Gross, a Democrat, who plans to oppose Rendo this November, said she hopes the public “remains engaged” in the debate over marijuana in the borough. She said she was concerned “greatly” about the “misinformation being put out there.”
She said she appreciated that the cannabis committee would discuss its findings in public. She said that “this is a marathon and not a sprint” and urged the public to stay involved.
Resident Joshua Stern said he did not want to live in a town with a cannabis dispensary. “This isn’t Rochelle Park, this isn’t Bergenfield, this is Woodcliff Lake,” he said, noting if marijuana is viewed as the only source of potential revenue, “the council has failed this town.”
He noted the online petition opposing a retail dispensary “shows how much people do not want this.”
Other residents stressed concerns including a potential dispensary’s association with increased crime and criminal activity, traffic, odors, impacts on children, and impacts on the borough’s reputation.
Schnoll said the committee would be speaking with officials in other towns who have played host to various cannabis enterprises to get data and information on the results and impacts.
Councilwoman Jennifer Margolis said a governing body’s responsibility was to “seek out alternate revenue streams” and urged residents to contact them with ideas about local tax revenues. She said the council would be looking at other revenue streams in upcoming months.
“We need to do our due diligence to see what’s out there,” she said, noting the decline in hotel tax revenues and an increase in local office vacancies.