Morristown council hears cannabis appeals

The Morristown council hears appeals from rejected cannabis applicants, June 29, 2022. Photo by Mike Leavy
0

 

By Mike Leavy

 

Morristown’s council got an earful Wednesday from three applicants rejected for a cannabis dispensary license.

They questioned the selection process, contended the town’s cannabis ordinance was ambiguous, and suggested minority ownership and community involvement should have been given more weight.

Uma Flowers, a company that operates a cannabis dispensary in Massachusetts, was awarded a recreational cannabis license by a 6-0 council vote in May. If it secures state approval, the company intends to open in a former car rental store at 102 Ridgedale Ave., near the Morris Township border.

The rejected applicants restated their pitches, seemingly with an eye toward a second cannabis license that the town may offer.

But Frank Vitolo, attorney for Uma flowers, reminded the council that the other applicants were appealing its decision. Such appeals, he said, typically are limited to arguing whether a decision was “arbitrary and capricious.”

In all, six applications were filed. Applicants filing appeals were The Summit, 64-66 Market St.; ALTA AMFI,  77-79 Market St.; The Banc Street Collective, 51 Bank St.; and Tangerine Tree Dispensary, 153 Morris St.

Representatives of Tangerine Tree Dispensary left Wednesday’s meeting without speaking. A fifth applicant, Sweet Spot Garden State, 64-55 Ridgedale Ave., did not appeal.

Much of the testimony centered on the type of license being offered by the town. Did the town’s cannabis ordinance call for one recreational license, and one medicinal license, as town Administrator Jillian Barrick stated in May?

Micci Weiss, an attorney for The Summit, contended the distinction is moot, citing a May 24, 2022, resolution from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission of New Jersey that allows medical operators to do recreational sales “on day one.”

The Morristown council hears appeals from rejected cannabis applicants, June 29, 2022. Photo by Mike Leavy

Principals in The Summit include Morristown businessman Jack McDonald and former town police Chief Joe Varro.

Varro, who also is former chief investigator for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, questioned the rating system used by an advisory panel that vetted the applications for the council. That panel included Barrick, Police Chief Darnell Richardson, town Attorney David Minchello, town Planner Phil Abramson, and Councilman Robert Iannaccone.

Varro claimed security provisions in The Summit’s bid got an unusually low score–only 4 on a scale of 10– from an unnamed screener.

“The other raters gave us sevens, eights and tens. This set me back a little bit and made me a little concerned after that,” said Varro, a graduate of the FBI National Academy as well as the State Police academy in Sea Girt.

The Summit group also advised that it had intended to donate 1 percent of gross profits to local nonprofits such as Deirdre’s House, which helps young victims of abuse.

The chief financial officer of Alta AMFI also expressed concern over scores for its proposed security team — which he said included a Purple Heart recipient and a former Navy SEAL who fired “the shot that killed Osama Bin Laden.”

“One of our scores was a zero,” said Ari Molovinsky.

Principals in Alta AMFI are Marisa Sweeney, owner of Morristown’s Be Well health studio, and Julie Camelotto, whose husband owns CoHome Inc., a group home in Morristown. AMHigley Co., which recently opened a Morristown office, was the general contractor.

Sweeney told the council she wanted to apply for a medicinal dispensary license, but could not get clarification from town officials about which type of license proposal it was soliciting.

“I own a wellness center in town, I’m a health professional myself…our entire plan was written to be medical. But how the ordinance is written, we were under the impression that there likely could be two recreational licenses supported,” Sweeney said.

“We had literally taken the word out, we redacted where ‘medical’ was and put ‘recreational’ in place of it,” she said.

Morristown brothers Damon Mitchell and Jaraun Wright spoke for the Banc Street Collective.  Their mother, Sandra McNeil Rodgers, owner of Sandi’s Restaurant, serves on their board.

Mitchell emphasized that the Banc Street Collective is a local, minority-owned enterprise. Appealing the decision was hard, he said, based on a lack of information requested from the council about the scoring system.

“We have no information on the score that we did receive, or any other applications, to determine that the scores were accurate,” Mitchell said.

He added that his group is applying for a conditional license from the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which he hopes might give Banc Street an edge.

“Keep in mind that we’re still waiting for the state license and as far as we understand, there’s no guarantee that anyone will receive one. So we hope you take that into consideration,” said Mitchell, who also shared that he is a Rutgers “master gardener,” with a background in plant medicine.

He said his mother contributes generously to community organizations, an example the dispensary would aim to emulate.

Wright spoke of socio-economic inequalities suffered by people of color in the United States.

“The analogy of colonialism permeates the atmosphere as I think of where we sit, historic Morristown, NJ, home of George Washington, first president of these United States, slave-owner and industrial hemp farmer,” Wright said.

“I intend to do business on my land, legally, with the council’s permission.”

Each group was given 20 minutes to speak.  The council then went into executive session, advising any decision would be announced at its July 12 meeting.

Principals in the Tangerine Tree Dispensary are Donna Mastrantonio, an executive assistant at Atlantic Health who also owns a company that operates vending machines at the Morris Animal Inn, and Morristown resident Assunta Esposito.

In its application, Tangerine Tree proposed hosting “expungement clinics,” in response to the government’s “misguided war on drugs.”

Sweet Spot Garden State was led by Angel Rivera, 37. His application described a  childhood in foster care, and parents plagued by substance abuse. Cannabis “saved his life,” according to his bio.

Former Morris Prosecutor Michael Murphy was listed as a Sweet Spot co-owner, along with Morris Plains resident Alexis Malafatopoulos, and Morristown resident Colleen Walsh, who credited medical marijuana with helping her recover from a rare autoimmune condition.

Kevin Coughlin contributed to this report.

If you’ve read this far… you clearly value your local news. Now we need your help to keep producing the local coverage you depend on! More people are reading Morristown Green than ever. But costs keep rising. Reporting the news takes time, money and hard work. We do it because we, like you, believe an informed citizenry is vital to a healthy community.

So please, CONTRIBUTE to MG or become a monthly SUBSCRIBER. ADVERTISE on Morristown Green. LIKE us on Facebook, FOLLOW us on Twitter, and SIGN UP for our newsletter.

LEAVE A REPLY