Hallelujah! A plan to convert a vacant church into a marijuana cultivation facility has been approved by a township planning board in New Jersey.
In a marathon meeting ending past 1 a.m. Friday, the West Amwell board approved the proposal, by Green Medicine NJ and GMNJ Properties. Those companies will soon convert the former First Pentecostal Prayer of Faith Church building. The building is at the intersection of Rock Road West and Route 518, into a Cannabis cultivation facility.
Green Medicine bought the 22-acre parcel with the 29,000-square-foot empty church building for $2.45 million, reports My Central Jersey.
This Means Half A Million Bucks To The Township
No changes to the exterior, footprint or height of the building are necessary. Green Medicine will make “all necessary repairs” and will plant trees along Rock Road West and Route 518.
The township signed an agreement for Green Medicine to pay an annual $100,000 “community fee” for five years. That’s a grand total of $500,000 if you’re keeping score.
Green Medicine also has agreed to pay the township a 2% tax based on gross revenue in medical marijuana sales.
“Addressing the Potential Health, Safety and Other Effects”
The agreement “is to assist the township in addressing the potential health, safety and other effects or impacts of the facility may have on the township and on municipal programs.”
An humble marijuana dispensary will almost certainly have only minimal impacts on health or safety, of course.
And that, naturally, leaves the board to concentrate on “other effects.”
They will likely have some discretionary funds with which to work, one might venture. So that’s probably close enough to heaven-sent for them.
