A medical marijuana cultivation facility may replace an 81-year-old airport in Green Township, but not everyone is on board.
The township’s governing committee held a closed-door discussion Monday night to review a zoning law amendment, adopted in July, that would allow a medical marijuana facility within an agriculture/industrial zone that includes Trinca Airport.
The airport is closing Sept. 1 and the possibility of a marijuana facility is prompting some pushback in Green Township, a rural municipality that is home to 3,400.
Mayor Margaret Phillips declined to discuss what might be in store for the airport site after the executive session concluded after 9 p.m.
She told NJ Advance Media two weeks ago that one company has expressed interest in leasing land and installing solar panels, while others have proposed a medicinal marijuana growing facility.
It remains a hypothetical discussion at this point, the mayor said Monday.
“There’s no applications,” Phillips said.
Some in the audience at the township committee meeting, which began two hours earlier, shared their thoughts on the topic.
John Skorski told the committee that he opposes a medical marijuana cultivation facility in Green Township, where he moved about a year ago.
Skorski said he fears that it would attract crime.
“It’s not from the person who’s going to buy it. It’s from the other people who want to steal it," Skorski said.
Medical marijuana is legal in New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill in June expanding the state’s program, which currently serves more than 60,000 patients.
Josephine Fracasso rebutted objections when she spoke at the meeting.
“It’s not going to create crime. It’s not going to be people coming from the outside to purchase. It’s going to be a growing facility and I don’t feel that the people in that immediate area understand the purpose of this building,” Fracasso said.
The township committee held a public hearing two weeks ago, but ended the meeting without taking a vote on any changes in the marijuana zoning ordinance. According to the New Jersey Herald, some at the meeting questioned whether a medical marijuana facility would run afoul of the state’s drug free school zone law.
Then the plan was to hold a vote Monday night, before officials decided late last week to instead hold a closed-door discussion, citing “attorney-client privilege" as the justification on the meeting agenda.
Phillips did not say when, or whether, the matter will be revisited.
Marge Vivian of Green Township was in attendance Monday but did not address the committee. Vivian said after the meeting that she and her husband, who has lung cancer, are among the more than 60,000 patients in the state’s marijuana program.
Vivian said she has had one hip and one shoulder replaced, and her other shoulder is a constant source of pain. She said she drives 90 minutes each way to pick up CBD oil and marijuana for herself and her husband of 46 years, Doug.
Asked about the possibility of a local growing facility, Vivian was enthusiastic.
“I support it,” Vivian told NJ Advance Media.
“If it brings down taxes too, that’s wonderful," she said.
The committee voted 5-0 five months ago to close Trinca Airport, which opened in 1939 and uses a turf runway, effective Sept. 1.
Green Township bought the airport in 2002 for $2.28 million in order to held off a private developer’s plan for a large housing development at the site.
Phillips previously said that financial and safety factors drove the decision.
Green Township receives zero revenue from Trinca Airport, which is one of 42 public-use airports in New Jersey and does not charge for flying in or out. Annual expenses are $15,000, including approximately $6,000 for a part-time airport manager and maintenance, such as cutting grass on the turf runway.
While some pilots have expressed dismay at the airport’s impending closure, airport manager Pete Sklannik was at the meeting Monday and said that, even on weekends, it attracts little interest.
“The pilots need fuel. We don’t have fuel," Sklannik said afterward.
“This airport - it’s run its course. It’s not like there aren’t other airports in the immediate area,” Sklannik added.
Skorski, though not a pilot, is a fan of Trinca Airport.
“I wish the airport would never close,” Skorski said.
Green Township officials are meeting with the state Department of Transportation on Wednesday to work through the logistics of shutting down the airport.
In the meantime, the discussion about replacing it with a medical marijuana cultivation facility seems likely to continue.
Fracasso said Green Township would benefit from leasing the facility.
“We really do need tax reform here. Our taxes are getting to the point where people cant exist in the township,” Fracasso said, adding that any dispensary would be a “safe facility.”
“If you’re worried about things being built in your neighborhood, then don’t buy a house ... where it’s an industrial zone in your backyard. That’s a risk you’re taking."
Skorski, though, alluded to a township committee member who, on an unrelated discussion, said she would be willing to accept a tax increase to avoid cutting services.
“I would pay more taxes not to have this industry in here,” he said.
Rob Jennings may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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