Plans roll forward with proposed Westland Marijuana Facility

The quest for Westland to become a major destination in the marijuana industry took another step this month.

A third marijuana business, this one planned on the north side of Cherry Hill west of Newburgh, recently received recommendation from the city's planning commission for a special land use and site plan. 

The business, which would be a collocated facility that contains retail space for medicinal and recreational marijuana, would be on the property near the Hush Haunted Attraction and The Legendary Axe bar. 

"We have been working on this project for a while, we're excited to pump a number of millions of dollars into this project and I think we're going to bring a first class looking building to the front of that project," said Paul Weisberger, one of the petitioners with LJA Holdings. "We're going to be employing in the neighborhood of 60 to 100 employees, depending on how busy we get early on."

The building would include retail, grow and processing operations on site. To comply, the development has several conditions the city administration wanted to see as a part of the recommended approval, including adhering to the city's tree ordinance, submitting an odor control plan and more.

Another issue brought up by Commissioner Deanna Adams-Stachow was the location of the handicap spaces on the proposed plan. The designated spaces on the plan were farther away from the door, and given that the facility will offer medicinal marijuana, she said those spaces could better serve customers if moved closer.

"I would like to proposed that that handicap area ... be moved to the front of the building, where it would be to the closest entrance where the customers would be coming in so that they would have a short accessibility to your front door," she said.

With the unanimous recommendation from the planning commission, the item now goes to the city council for its final decision on the matter.