Frelinghuysen marijuana farm action postponed. See what's next

FRELINGHUYSEN — The hearing on whether to allow a greenhouse marijuana growing operation on open farmland along Route 94 was again postponed Monday before any testimony could be heard by the town's Land Use Board.

The delay will give both sides time to research a potential obstacle to the proposed project in Warren County: whether a one-hour Sunday School session at a neighboring church qualifies as a school as defined by state law which restricts cannabis cultivation within 1,000 feet.

The third meeting on the issue, which was a standing-room-only crowd at the town's recreation center on Lincoln Laurel Road, was to debate the plan to erect three greenhouses on land just across the border from Sussex County.

The crowd was sent home before any testimony about the operations could be made public.

At this week's session, however, what appeared to be a diagram/plot plan of the three-greenhouse operation was placed on an easel.

However, after opening remarks by Michael Selvaggi, representing One Faith Wellness, which is proposing the project, and Roger W. Thomas, an attorney hired by a group of townspeople opposing the plans, and an out-of-hearing conference between the owners and attorney, it was decided to start the process over.

Selvaggi said he would recast the formal public notice and ensure it was published in time for an Aug. 5 hearing. The updated notice will contain more information about what type of variances would be needed by One Faith Wellness for the project to be approved.

The new hearing will also allow all members of the Land Use Board, which includes three members of the Township Committee, to be in attendance. And, as noted by Thomas, would also be outside the "July Fourth holiday week" when many people are on vacation, so more townspeople can attend.

All the approximately 50 chairs in the hall were filled with more than an equal number standing on the sides of the room and gathered in the area behind the rows of seats.

Thomas also broached the subject of the 1,000-foot limit for schools. The Frelinghuysen elementary school is about a half-mile away on the same side of Route 94, but he was referring to the weekly session at the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church located across Route 94 and slightly up Muller Road from the now-vacant farm field where the greenhouses would be located.

Selvaggi argued the state definition of school does not extend to a one-hour class given weekly.

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The project has also been scaled down from five greenhouses to three larger buildings with slightly less growing space.

Thomas was also about to begin an argument that 'manufacturing' was part of One Faith Wellness's original plan but is not included in the current proposal. The company's license from the state is for cultivating and manufacturing but not a class four (distribution) license.

He appeared to be headed for an argument that the variances needed as well as the description of the business was not sufficient. Selvaggi suggested that rather than go through a lengthier hearing process, he would refile the public notice with more explanation of the variances needed.

After the meeting, Rudy Hesse from the Marksboro section of town, and Marc Thomas, who lives on Muller Road and described himself as a 'next-door neighbor,' talked on the lawn outside the meeting hall.

Hesse said he does not have a problem with the project and believes it would bring some financial benefit to the town. "We are a farming town. This is a farming operation...you grow a crop then truck it off site to another place. Yeah, it's agriculture."

Thomas said he is concerned about "light pollution" from the greenhouses which apparently will use grow lights at night. He also expressed worry that the smell of the live plants would escape the greenhouse and said he had smelled growing marijuana when he once installed some optical fiber through a wall of a greenhouse.

"From what I've been told, the smell of the plants does get out of the building," he said. "It's apparently a problem on Route 22 from the old Walmart building." There is a cannabis growing facility on Route 22 in Reddington.

Hesse, however, said odors are part of agriculture and noted that raising chickens or pigs is "smelly," and noted that even dairy farms have odors particular to farming.

The plot of land eyed for the greenhouses is on the west side of Route 94, south of Muller Road which is the approximate border between Fredon Township in Sussex County and Frelinghuysen in Warren.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Frelinghuysen NJ marijuana farm action postponed. What's next