A rendering of the planned Harmony Dispensary location at 95 Hudson St. in Hoboken — Courtesy: Nastasi Architects
By Joshua Burd
A proposed medical marijuana dispensary in Hoboken is moving forward after a series of zoning and neighborhood impact studies completed by Dresdner Robin.
The Jersey City-based land used consultancy announced that the operator, Harmony Dispensary, has been approved by the Hoboken planning board for a 5,000-square-foot location at 95 Hudson St. The space will become the 10th dispensary in the state and the second in Hudson County, made possible by new regulations that allowed existing licensed alternative medical treatment facilities to open satellite locations.
Dresdner Robin noted that final local approval for the dispensary involved a revision of Hoboken’s zoning ordinance. The firm helped secure the changes via legislative action from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and the city council, adding that local officials examined the project via a virtual public planning board hearing during the COVID-19 crisis.
Harmony Dispensary has its headquarters and a primary retail-and-cultivation location in Secaucus.
“This is a truly unique process,” said Charles Heydt, assistant director of planning services at Dresdner Robin. “These medical marijuana treatment facilities often involve revisions to land use and zoning regulations in order to properly accommodate this use.”
The firm, which also conducted a neighborhood impact study for the site late last year, evaluated new regulations and proposed enhancements at the location. Harmony Dispensary has since acquired the site, which formerly housed an urgent and primary care facility.
Dresdner Robin helped evaluate new factors such as parking, a restriction of on-site consumption and an enhanced security system, according to a news release. The firm also carried out a neighborhood impact study that evaluated parking impacts, noise and odor, incorporating a review of architectural plans, operations and traffic generation.
Upon approval of the new city ordinance in June 2020, Dresdner Robin said it analyzed new regulations to ensure compliance and rendered a final opinion on the impacts of the proposed use.
The project team also includes Nastasi Architects of Hoboken and law firm Scarinci Hollenbeck of Lyndhurst.
