A Cannabis retail shop approval and the giving away of “borough owned” waterfront land are both on the agenda for Thursday night’s meeting of the Highlands Land Use Board.
Residents interested in the future of their borough should take note of what’s going on and voice their opinions before actions are taken and approvals granted rather than question, complain or wonder how it happened later.
The Land Use Board does not enable all residents to participate in meetings at the Community Center since they limit attendance to those who can appear at the Community Center, rather than offering the meetings on ZOOM so even the handicapped have input at meetings.
Giving Away Property
The borough property giveaway is an application submitted by the borough to its land use board for subdivision creating one large and three smaller lots out of an approximate piece of waterfront property near Matthew .and Willow St. Purpose of the giveaway is to enable the borough to give one of the smaller newly created lots to the property owner the borough has indicated has been encroaching on the borough land for many years as well as to create building lots the borough may intend to sell in the future.
Tomorrow’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. with the reorganization of the Land Use Board. Members are Mayor Carolyn Broullon, Police Chief Robert Burton and Council president Jo-Anne Olszewski as municipal government members, Robert Knox, Bruce Kutosh, Laurie La Russa and Ann Marie Tierney as regular members, and alternates Helen Chang, Dean Cramer, Dennis Ziemba and Ann Peterson as alternates.
Attorneys Ronald Cucchiara and Dustin Glass of the Weiner Law Group will be named attorneys for the Board.
The Devil’s Lettuce
The application from Bridge City Collective Highlands LLC for a minor site plan and conditional use approval is on the agenda. The company is seeking to open its business at 132 Bay Ave, the two story building with apartments above on the corner of Cornall St. and Bay Avenue. The building is owned by 132 Bay Aves. LLC, with Valerie Montecalvo signing the application approval as owner of the building. Ms Montecalvo also owns at least three other properties within 200 feet of the proposed cannabis shop.
Bridge City Collection Highlands, whose address is Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but with a Highlands zip code on the application, is represented by attorney Brian Tipton. The application includes the conditional retail business approval for the 132 Bay Avenue address granted by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission which expires March 31.
While the application being heard at this meeting is for minor site plan approval and the conditional use, further approvals are needed before the business can open, including a variance from the number of parking places needed. Currently, with two apartments and a business, seven spaces are needed while three are in existence.
The application was one of two for conditional cannabis retail businesses originally heard at the Dec. 20 meeting of the Board. The second license, The Honorable Plant, whose principals are all women owning the applicant for Bay Avenue Ventures, are seeking to have their store at 123 Bay Avenue, the former Food Basket market which also has apartments above. That application is not up for approval at tomorrow’s meeting. That building is currently owned by Michael Salerno.
Related Story
