City Council adopted a resolution in support of locating a medical marijuana dispensary within the city’s light industrial or heavy industrial zones.

The governing body approved a resolution (AR-195-18) during its Sept. 10 regular meeting in support of operating an Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) within the city, “under certain conditions.”

The Division of Medical Marijuana received 146 applications from 106 organizations by the Aug. 31 deadline in response to a request in July for applications for up to six new applications. Applicants had to identify the region of the state where they would like to operate: There were 50 applicants for the northern region, 45 in the central region, and 51 in the southern region. It’s unclear in which region Rahway would be included.

There are ATCs in operation in Montclair, Egg Harbor, Woodbridge, Cranbury and Bellmawr. The Department of Health issued the sixth permit in June.

An ATC Is authorized to grow and provide registered qualifying patients with medicinal marijuana and related paraphernalia in accordance with the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act of 2010. “The need for medical marijuana in New Jersey currently exceeds the supply that the existing licensed ATCs in operation can provide,” according to the resolution.

The city “supports expanded access to marijuana for medicinal purposes,” including but not limited to cultivation and harvesting usable marijuana; manufacturing and processing usable marijuana, including the manufacturing of edible products, and dispensing of usable marijuana.

The resolution that was adopted supports the location within the city of an ATC in areas that are zoned in light industrial zones and heavy industrial zones. City Council supports applications to the Department of Health to permit a business to operate an ATC in those zoning districts, conditioned upon the appropriate ordinance amendment to the permitted uses in the zone and the grant of any and all other approvals by the municipality, county and state.

The purpose of Rahway’s light industrial zones (I-L) and heavy industrial (I-H) zones are to encourage industrial and warehouse developments which meet modern industrial performance standards. Rahway’s industrial zones are located mainly in the southern part of the city, bordering Woodbridge, per the city’s zoning map.

A certified copy of the resolution will be forwarded to businesses that submitted applications to the Division of Medicinal Marijuana within the Department of Health.