The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
An application to locate a cannabis dispensary in a residentially zoned building at DeMott Lane and Amwell Road was denied August 7 by the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The denial was based on a technicality; the application received four “yes” votes and three “no” votes, but applications seeking a use variance need a minimum of five “yes” votes to pass. The use variance was needed because retail uses are not allowed in R-20 Zones.
The building in which the applicant, Gary Burnett, representing Hound Town 543, wanted to house the dispensary already holds a bicycle repair shop, a deli and two upstairs apartments, and is next door to a hair salon and spa.
Witness for the applicant stressed that the building has been used for commercial purposes for about a century, but that did not sway some of the Board members.
Board members said they were concerned about the proposed dispensary’s proximity to Franklin Middle School – Sampson G. Smith campus and the Township Library, and wondered if there wasn’t better location for the store.
In the process, Board members also slammed state and Township governments for not establishing guidelines for the placement of cannabis businesses, much like what has been set for liquor stores.
Area residents who showed up for the hearing were also split, with opponents citing quality of life issues as their reasons, and proponents arguing that the building has been a non-conforming retail use for a long time.
There are currently 14 operating cannabis businesses – dispensaries and cultivators – in Franklin, with more in the pipeline.
One dispensary, Bleachers, located at Route 27 and Veronica Avenue, shut down operations late last year.
The Township Council in October 2024 passed an ordinance limiting the number of cannabis businesses located in the township to 18, but did allow for the grandfathering of businesses which received their state approval prior to the ordinance taking effect. Hound Town received its approval in October 2022.
The plan submitted by Hound Town 543 involved taking part of the Bilco bicycle repair shop at the corner of Amwell Road and DeMott Lane and transform it into a dispensary.
The bike repair shop would remain and occupy 115 square feet of space on the main floor, and conduct repairs in the basement, while the dispensary would take up 674 square feet, according to the plans.
A second entrance facing DeMott Lane would be built for the dispensary, according to the plans. Dispensary customers would exit out of the store’s back door, into an alcove shared with the Corner Cafe deli.
Burnett told the Board that the ID of anyone entering the dispensary would be checked at the front door and then again at the time a purchase is made.
There would be no odors emanating from the dispensary, Burnett said, because only empty product boxes would be displayed in the selling area, and all cannabis would be kept in a vault.
Burnett told the Board that he expected to employ between eight and 10 people, and work with locl non-profits.
Burnett said he would also work to diminish the stigma around cannabis.
“Most of all, we’re also very committed to education,” he said. “There happens to be a lot of stigma around the use of cannabis, both at a medical and at a recreational level. We believe that it’s incumbent on us, as operators, to address the education element of cannabis to ensure that both on the medical side, that there are health benefits to it, and on the recreational side, that people are using cannabis responsibly.”
There was some discussion about the proposed dispensary’s proximity to Franklin Middle School.
“If you walk down the street just a short distance from where that building is, there’s a driveway that leads you on foot, leads you right to the Samson G. Smith School,” Board vice-chairman Robert Shepherd said.
“So it would seem to me that the Samson G. Smith School students would be able to go to this particular location,” he said. “I’m not saying that they’re going to go in and be able to pretend that they’re old enough to buy stuff there, but I’m just concerned about them being exposed to this so close to their school.”
Kevin O’Brien, the project’s planner, said his client would obviate that by putting up a sign that says, “Dispensary.”
“It says dispensary,” O’Brien said. “It says nothing about marijuana. It says nothing about cannabis.”
That was too much for Shepherd.
“Oh, come on,” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “They know exactly what’s going on. You’ve just taken it one step too far.”
Board chairman Robert Thomas said that he wasn’t sure how relevant concern about a school’s proximity to the dispensary is, considering that there are other dispensaries in the township that did not have to get a land use board’s approval and which are located near schools.
Voting for the application were Shepherd, Thomas, Richard Procanik, and Kunal Lakhia.
The vote did not come easy for Lakhia.
“I’m very torn right now, and there are very compelling arguments on both the sides,” he said. “One, from a business perspective, the state, the council, nobody bothered to say if this can be anywhere. I would have liked that you would have scoped a piece or two more before you chose this. I understand that from a business perspective, it’s going to be very controlled and so on.”
Voting “no” were Shubhendu Singh, Vaseem Firdaus, and Gary Rosenthal.
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