Hoboken is getting a new medical marijuana shop.
Land use consultants Dresdner Robin completed a zoning analyses
for a medical marijuana site in the Mile Square town on behalf of Harmony
Dispensary
The 5,000 s/f site, acquired by Harmony Dispensary and located at 95 Hudson St. in downtown Hoboken (pictured top), formerly housed an urgent and primary care facility.
The city’s planning board approved the change of use in
accordance with New Jersey’s Compassionate Care Act, under which marijuana
restrictions have been recently revised, allowing broader access to
“alternative medical treatment facilities” across the state.
Harmony Dispensary, which has headquarters and a primary
retail-and-cultivation location in Secaucus, N.J., applied for the retail-only
Hoboken site in 2018 after new regulations allowed existing licensed
alternative medical treatment facilities to open “satellite” locations.
Final local approval for the dispensary involved a revision of Hoboken’s zoning ordinance. Dresdner Robin coordinated the revised zoning requirements for the site. The process involved legislative action from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and city council, and the project was reexamined via virtual public Planning Board hearing amid COVID-19-related restrictions.
Charles Heydt, assistant director of planning services at
Dresdner Robin, said, “This is a truly unique process. These medical marijuana
treatment facilities often involve revisions to land use and zoning regulations
in order to properly accommodate this use.”
New factors that Dresdner Robin helped evaluate include
parking, a restriction of onsite consumption and an enhanced security system.
The Jersey City-based firm also carried out a neighborhood
impact study which evaluated parking impacts, noise and odor. The evaluation
also incorporated a review of architectural plans, operations and traffic
generation.
Dresdner Robin identified appropriate strategies to mitigate
areas where impacts were anticipated. Upon approval of the new city ordinance
in June 2020, Dresdner Robin analyzed new regulations to ensure compliance and
rendered a final opinion on the impacts of the proposed use.
Wolfgang & Hite is the creator and owner of the image and the designer of the project. The associated law firm is Scarinci Hollenbeck of Lyndhurst, N.J.
