Red Bank approves third cannabis store, borough licensing awaits
RED BANK – A new cannabis retail store was approved by the planning board Monday night. The company Monteverde NJ plans on opening the new store at 45 North Bridge Ave., taking over a former dry-cleaner. The company is one of four retailers that have appeared before either planning or zoning boards.
The first approved in March plans on taking over the restaurant China Moon. The second, approved in May, is eyeing the spot next to Red Bank Liquors. Plug Naturals, LLC, which appeared before the zoning board, has not received an approval yet. An ordinance by the borough, passed in April created a cannabis review board that would grant borough licenses for cannabis businesses. It would also limit the number of cannabis retailers operating in the borough to three.
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The company’s owners, Elizabeth Egan of Toms River and Devin Liles of Boulder, Colorado, received approval by the state to open a medical marijuana business in Dec. 2021. However, they decided to convert their state license to adult use sales, which would allow the company to sell cannabis to adults over 21 with and without a medical marijuana card. Liles said, they are working with the state to determine ways in which medical marijuana patients can receive priority treatment.
Liles, who has worked in the cannabis industry in California and Colorado for 20 years, said there would no on-site consumption of cannabis and products would come prepackaged. He said, all products would be located behind a counter and would not be allowed to be opened.
In addition to unopened packages, Liles said his company is working to prevent odors with two layers of filtration.
“It’s overkill for this situation,” he said.
The borough’s engineer Ed Herrman later said, “We appreciate overkill.”
The specific site would require nine parking spots, but Liles said only five would be onsite and 11 would be offsite. The offsite spots would be leased spots with the borough’s parking authority.
Board chairman Dan Mancuso said a condition of approval would be that employees would park offsite and not on Bridge Avenue or Brower Street.
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Liles said there would be two methods of sales. The first, which he said employees would promote, would require customers to purchase products online and then pick it up in store. He estimates that customers would be in the store for no more than five minutes. The second would entail customers meeting with an employee and browsing a selection of products. He said ID would be checked at both the entrance and before buying any products.
He said there would be a maximum of 17 employees and there could be a maximum of 47 customers during peak hours.
If a line begins to form outside the building, employees would direct customers to queue along Brower St. and not Bridge Ave., a more residential street. The store would also tell customers to scan a QR code for a virtual queue if the line becomes too long.
Board member David Cassidy, who was recently elected to the borough council in the May special election, expressed concerns that the store was opening next to a single-family home and objected to the proposed hours of 8 am to 10 pm.
Liles said, “If being open those hours isn’t justified by the sales volume that we have and the data, we may choose to cut those hours back.”
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Shawna Ebanks, the borough’s Director of Community Development, asked if credit cards were accepted.
Liles said debit cards would be accepted.
The planning board voted 4-3 to approve the cannabis business. It would still need a borough license to operate. Board members Juanita Lewis, Barbara Boas and David Cassidy voted against the application. Councilmember Michael Ballard, who spearheaded an effort to restrict cannabis businesses and lost reelection, voted to approve saying he liked the location.
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 approves third cannabis store, borough licensing awaits
