KEYPORT – The Borough Council has established a subcommittee whose members will review requests from entities that are seeking to operate a cannabis business in Keyport.
On Jan. 18, council members passed a resolution which establishes the cannabis subcommittee. Borough Council President Kathleen McNamara and Councilwoman Rose Araneo were appointed to one-year terms on the panel.
McNamara and Araneo were recommended to serve on the subcommittee by Mayor Collette Kennedy.
Keyport Police Chief Shannon Torres and Borough Administrator Jay Delaney were also appointed to the cannabis subcommittee for one-year terms in 2022.
According to the resolution, the members of the cannabis subcommittee will review all completed submissions from entities that are seeking to obtain a cannabis business license and make a recommendation to the governing body as to whether an entity’s request for a license should be granted or denied.
The establishment of the subcommittee followed the council’s adoption of an ordinance that established locations in Keyport where cannabis businesses will be permitted to operate and the standards by which the operators of cannabis businesses may receive a license.
According to the ordinance, a 2021 state law established six marketplace classes of licensed marijuana businesses: cultivator, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, retailer and delivery.
Under the guidelines of Keyport’s ordinance, cannabis retailers and delivery services will be permitted to operate in the Highway Commercial zoning district, in the Industrial zoning district and on specific lots in the General Commercial zoning district.
The lots in the General Commercial zoning district where cannabis retailers and delivery services will be permitted to operate will front West Front Street between Broad and Beers streets; Broad Street between West Front and Third streets; and Main Street between West Front and Barnes streets.
Two cannabis retailers will not be permitted to operate in the same zoning district, according to the ordinance.
According to the ordinance, cannabis cultivators, distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers will only be permitted to operate in the Industrial zoning district.
No type of cannabis business will be permitted to operate within 250 feet of a licensed childcare facility or a residential childcare facility; nor within 250 feet of any public or private elementary school, middle school, high school, college or university; nor within 150 feet of any church, synagogue, temple or other place used exclusively for religious worship; nor in or upon the same premises of businesses that engage in retail food sales or retail alcoholic beverage sales, according to the ordinance.
Cannabis cultivators and cannabis manufacturers will each be required to pay an annual license fee of $10,000.
The annual license fee to be paid by cannabis wholesalers, distributors, retailers and delivery services will be $5,000.
Two licenses will be permitted for each type of cannabis business.
The hours of operation for cannabis cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers will be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the ordinance.
Cannabis delivery services will have their hours of operation determined by the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
