Article originally publsihed September 12, 2025 from northjersey.com

Link to Article by Philip DeVencentis

A judge has overturned the denial by the Planning Board of a proposed cannabis dispensary on Haledon Avenue, effectively clearing the way for the controversial project to move forward.

The ruling by Judge Rudolph Filko, sitting in state Superior Court in Paterson, reverses a May 2024 decision by the board to reject the plan for the marijuana shop known as The Dispensary.

Its owner, a limited liability company called This Budz 4 U of Wayne, sued the board two months after its application was turned down. It proposed to take over a 1,409-square-foot Dunkin’ restaurant, which is moving from the Belmont Avenue intersection to the former site of Verp’s Bakery. The plan was opposed by Molly Ann Farms, the only other cannabis business in the borough.

The judge wrote in his nine-page opinion that the board decision was arbitrary and capricious.

“Defendant ignored credible evidence and the opinions of not only plaintiff’s experts, but their own attorney and engineer, when denying plaintiff’s application,” he concluded. “In their resolution, defendant wholly failed to consider and evaluate the variance that they claimed plaintiff needed.”

Facts of the case were largely undisputed.

The matter revolved around an interpretation of the municipal code, which states that cannabis businesses cannot operate within 500 feet of a day care center or school.

The board decision rested on the distance between the proposed dispensary and a nearby day care center.

Board members felt that the distance should be measured from the day care center property line to the edge of a parking lot, which the dispensary will share with an auto care center. But the judge found that it should be measured from door to door.

“The only function of plaintiff’s operation would be retail sales, entirely within the confines of the building,” he wrote. “Therefore, the entire lot is not defined as the ‘premises,’ but rather only the enclosed building where the business will be operated.”

Attorneys for the board did not respond to an inquiry about the court ruling.

The Dispensary has three locations, the nearest of which to Haledon is on Route 46 west in Saddle Brook. Frank Catania, a recurring cast member of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” was a consultant for the Haledon project.

The state’s cannabis market generated more than $2 billion in revenue since the start of adult-use sales in April 2022.

Recently, however, there have been signs that sales are leveling off — at least in neighboring Paterson.

The Record and NorthJersey.com reported on Sept. 5 that fees collected by the city for cannabis sales in 2024 fell by one-third of the previous year’s total of $2.2 million.

Philip DeVencentis is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. For access to the most important news in your community, subscribe or activate your digital account.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com