Can North Jersey town bear two weed shops? 'Real Housewives' star looks to move in

HALEDON — A cannabis dispensary tied to a reality TV star is facing an uphill fight to open on Haledon Avenue as a competitor attempts to derail its plan.

The new business venture by Frank Catania, known for recurring appearances on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” could become the second shop to sell legal marijuana in the 1.2-square-mile borough.

But the application is hung up before the Planning Board, which raised several concerns at a recent public hearing.

Its proposed location is 490 Haledon Ave., the address of a Dunkin’ restaurant.

It would be called The Dispensary, though its paperwork was filed under Cattino Real Estate Holdings, a North Haledon entity run by Catania, and This Budz 4 U, a Wayne-based limited liability company.

Catania, a bodybuilder and the ex-husband of Dolores Catania, a regular on “Real Housewives,” opened dispensaries in Union and in the Somerset section of Franklin Township in the past two weeks.

The Haledon board decided not to vote on the plan, asking an attorney for the business, Daniel Lagana, to return with more information next month.

Meanwhile, the sibling owners of the only other dispensary in the borough picked apart expert testimony on security and traffic. A main point of contention ­­was the proposed number of parking spots.

Engineers said there were enough parking spots because the footprint of the building would not change. The dispensary would have 13 spots, but under a longstanding pact with a neighboring Firestone auto care center, they said it could take as many as six more.

The floor area was challenged by Gian Lombardi, who co-owns Molly Ann Farms, a dispensary that opened in the fall on Belmont Avenue. “I really urge you guys to measure the dimensions of this building,” he said to the board.

Lombardi said he believed it was about 300 square feet bigger than what the board was told and that additional parking spots were needed due to the miscalculation.

Another issue that surfaced was the distance between the proposed dispensary and a day care center at 460 Haledon Ave.

The borough allows a buffer of no less than 500 feet, and a surveyor measured the separation distance as 501.4 feet from the Dunkin’ property corner to that of The Royalty Family Academy.

Opponents of the business said the buffer should be measured from the corner of the Firestone lot because the dispensary would use it to handle overflow parking.

“I’m a rule follower, and I expect that everyone else follows the rules,” said Gabriella Wilday, who co-owns Molly Ann Farms. “It’s a privilege to operate a business in this community — it’s earned.”

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Haledon, Paterson and West Milford are the only towns in Passaic County that allow dispensaries for retail use, in spite of overwhelming support from New Jersey voters to amend the constitution to legalize marijuana.

In July 2021, the Borough Council adopted a zoning measure to authorize cannabis businesses in the commercial district. The ordinance permits two licenses to be issued.

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“It’s clear that the governing body of this municipality acted with purpose,” Lagana said at the hearing.

The attorney also told the board that his client’s proposed dispensary would replace the “pinnacle of intense uses.” Dunkin’ creates a lot of traffic, he said, and it has long hours of operation.

“Caffeine is the drug of choice for all people,” Lagana said.

His argument was later reinforced by Matthew Seckler, a traffic engineer who said the coffee shop draws as many as 64 trips during the morning peak hour.

That volume could not possibly occur at the dispensary, Seckler said, because it would not open until 10 a.m.

Tenisha Victor, the operations manager of the business, said she witnessed sales level off at other marijuana shops. “A lot of these dispensaries aren’t seeing the lines that we were seeing in the beginning,” she said.

But that is only because there are “a lot of operators,” Victor said.

Last month, the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission reported $800.3 million in legal marijuana sales across New Jersey for 2023. There are now more than 100 dispensaries, and the agency said it expects that their total revenue will top $1 billion this year.

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: 'RHONJ' star faces challenge in opening third cannabis store