CRDA Approves Cannabis Lounge on Atlantic Avenue
ATLANTIC CITY — The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority on Tuesday approved a variance to allow a cannabis dispensary and consumption lounge at the site of a former food market at 3004 Atlantic Ave.
It’s the latest in a series of variances approved for cannabis businesses in town, and likely the last to be approved, Lance Landgraf, the CRDA director of planning and development, told the board at the meeting.
That’s because the cannabis businesses will now be a permitted use under the city’s green zone, created in September as part of a cannabis-driven redevelopment plan.
Landgraf said the city’s existing zoning law did not anticipate cannabis businesses becoming a permitted use, but future businesses within the zone will no longer require a use variance.
This application, and those approved previously, began the process before the change in zoning.Sunnytien LLC sought, and received, a variance and a waiver of a site plan for a business selling cannabis to adults at the site, along with a consumption lounge where customers can imbibe in the now-legal product.
Landgraf told the board that he checked with the owners as part of the application process, and only cannabis and cannabis-infused products purchased at the business will be allowed to be smoked or ingested in the lounge. The business will also need air filtration systems to keep the smoke from being smelled outside the building.
The city has already endorsed the use, Landgraf said. The business will still need a license approved by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission before it can open.
At an earlier meeting, the CRDA approved variances for a cannabis growing and manufacturing business on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and a dispensary at 3112 Atlantic Ave., where there had been a masonic hall.
In the spring, the CRDA granted approval for another cannabis dispensary at 2417 Pacific Ave.
There is a cannabis business open on the Boardwalk, selling to those with medical marijuana cards. The Botanist is currently the only legal dispensary for the adult-use market in Atlantic County, at its Egg Harbor Township site, but city officials have decided not to allow recreational cannabis sales on the Boardwalk.