A rendering of what the former Marlton Diner will look like as a recreational marijuana store.
Enlighten Health & Wellness LLC, the company with plans to convert the old Marlton Diner on Route 73 into a recreational cannabis dispensary, on Friday received its retailer license from the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
A 70and73.com call to RD Management LLC in New York City, listed as the owner, was not returned on Friday afternoon. The regulatory commission provides scant detail on licensees, but the Marlton operator appears to be the only Enlighten Health that is seeking a license from the state.
Enlighten last August applied to the Evesham Township Planning Board to renovate the diner at 781 Route 70 in Marlton — westbound between Pep Boys and Sammy's Express Carwash — and open a cannabis store. The board approved the application at the October 6 meeting and adopted a resolution on its decision at its November 3 meeting.
The Enlighten outlet will be less than a mile west on Route 70 from Highway 90, another recreational marijuana store in a former real estate office near the intersection of Routes 70 and 73. Highway 90 has been licensed and built but has not opened.
Because the old diner is less than 1,500 feet from the Cherry Hill border on Route 70, a cannabis store opening there would at least for now be a strategic location. Cherry Hill Township has yet to approve cannabis businesses in town and now is going through a series of public hearings before the Township Council before a decision is made.
A recreational cannabis retailer recently opened on White Horse Road in Voorhees and one on Route 73 in Mount Laurel is licensed and awaiting the outcome of a final state inspection.
The attraction by municipalities to host cannabis businesses is the local tax authorized by the state's cannabis law. A municipality can impose up to a 2% tax on a cannabis retailer's sales receipts.
In Marlton, a cannabis retailer is a permitted use for the 2.5-acre former diner property with the 6,024-square-foot building, according to the Planning Board's resolution.
Enlighten Health & Wellness is owned by Sonal Patel, Barbara Walder, Denise Feldman, Kim Steinmetz, Mark Steinmetz, Richard Birdoff, Vishal Patel and Jon Maslin, according to its application to Evesham Township. None lives in South Jersey and three of the owners live in North Jersey. The rest are from out of state.
Timothy Prime, a lawyer with the Mount Laurel firm of Prime & Tuvel, represented Enlighten before the board and said the traffic impact of a cannabis retailer "would not be appreciably different" from that produced by the former diner, the board's resolution notes.
Representatives of the applicant described the security plans at the board meeting, including training all employees in security and controlling access to parts of the building.
A third-party security company also will be hired to be on site at the store. Some cannabis stores are using armed guards. Because of federal restrictions affecting credit card companies, nearly all customers pay in cash. Some towns also have expressed concern over security for the products.
