'Legal mess': Would-be Red Bank pot shop owners change minds after initially giving up

RED BANK - After buying property, securing a conditional license from the state and receiving approval from the borough planning board to allow cannabis sales within 1,000 feet of a school, Plug Naturals LLC withdrew its application to sell recreational marijuana here — and then withdrew its withdrawal letter.

The confusion resulting from the cannabis company’s actions is what Red Bank planning board attorney Michael Leckstein calls “a legal mess.”

After cannabis sales were legalized in the borough in 2021, Plug Naturals was one of more than a dozen companies seeking to set up shop.

The company sought out the house at 156 West Front St. to convert into a store and received a conditional license from the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission in late October 2022.

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In January 2023, the company came before the planning board to ask for it to be allowed to proceed before the planning board, as opposed to the zoning board where an approval is more difficult to achieve. The issue at hand was that half of 156 West Front St. was within the 1,000-foot drug free school zone. The planning board voted to allow plans for the proposed cannabis store to be heard at a future planning board meeting.

As a result of decision, the borough council voted to restrict the number of cannabis licenses that could be awarded in the borough. The borough currently allows only three licenses.

In July 2023, Plug Naturals came before the planning board, but a number of board members expressed disapproval of the site plan.

Planning board chair Dan Mancuso said at the time, “A conforming lot would solve all your problems,” but “it’s a house.”

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He said there were issues with the buffer, the frontage setback, the driveway size — “which in my opinion is a safety issue” — the rear lot and access from Front Street.

Hearing the criticism, the company asked that a vote be postponed.

Then on Sept. 12, 2023, Shawna Ebanks, the borough’s director of Community Development, received a letter from the company that requested that its application be withdrawn without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled at a later date.

On Oct. 5, 2023, the borough received another letter from the company asking to rescind its withdrawal letter.

“We previously wrote to you on behalf of the applicant Plug Naturals LLC seeking to withdraw without prejudice (the application). The applicant is in the process of revising its plans in a manner that we believe will fully address each and every one of the planning board’s statements and concerns," Ebanks read aloud during Monday’s planning board meeting. "In that regard we would like to rescind our request to withdraw the application, submit revised plans, renotice and reappear before your planning board.”

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On Oct. 11, 2023, Leckstein, the planning board attorney, wrote back in a letter read by Ebanks saying, “On behalf of the board, I cannot confirm that your request will be accepted by them.”

Leckstein suggested that the company submit revised plans in the meantime.

“This may be important in determining if your new application is a new application or an amendment to the original,” Leckstein wrote

Ebanks said since Oct. 11, her office has not heard from Plug Naturals.

Leckstein said his main concern with the first letter is the request to withdraw without prejudice, which he said he feared would allow the company to return with only slight changes to the site plan.

Mancuso said, “Regardless of what they do, it’s going to be a substantially different application if they are going to address all of our concerns.”

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He said in his opinion, the company would have to buy the neighboring property to solve the problems with the application.

The board agreed to send another letter asking the company about their plans.

But if the company were to reappear before the borough planning board and receive approval, it still faces hurdles in opening its doors.

On Oct. 13, 2023, three borough licenses were awarded to Canopy Crossroads LLC, The Frosted Nug and Monteverde NJ. Another company, The Garden at Red Bank, received approval by the planning board in December 2023. It plans to open at 199 Riverside Ave. and take over the former gas station. However, The Garden at Red Bank needs to wait for one of the three cannabis borough licenses to become available again.

“They lost a spot,” Leckstein said about Plug Naturals.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Red Bank legal weed business reverses plan to drop application