During public comments at the June 9 meeting, Milford City Council heard from Kristopher Kiely, Chief Executive Officer and Justin Weisser, owner, of Fresh Delaware regarding their license to sell both medical and retail marijuana in Milford. The company has a location at 635 North Dupont Boulevard in Milford.
“I am here regarding the recent ordinance that was passed banning adult-use cannabis here in Milford,” Kiely said. “Before the ordinance was even discussed for the very first time, we received a proper zoning letter from the city of Milford that verifies our existing medical marijuana dispensary is in the proper zoning for adult-use retail sales. That letter was attached to the conversion license application and submitted to the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner for approval.”
According to Kiely, the office reviewed the documents and approved a conversion license, one that permits both medical and retail sales, to Fresh Delaware. This took place before there was discussion at the city level regarding banning retail sales in the city.
“During the meeting where the ban was put in place, I heard one of the council members offer a suggestion that ‘we can continue operating a medical dispensary here in Milford and open up an adult-use dispensary somewhere else,’” Kiely said. “I am here to clarify that is not possible under state law. We’re issued a conversion license for our single dispensary here in Milford at our specific address. We cannot split it up into two separate locations.”
Kiely explained that Fresh Delaware opened in 2019, and there had not been a single violation at their location. The company has a perfect compliance record with the state, and the entire security force consists of retired police officers positioned at the front door, checking identification upon entry. All employees at Fresh Delaware are unionized through a collective bargaining agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union 27.
“I have also personally volunteered to train all of the newly appointed regulators of the cannabis industry, both at OMC and the Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement,” Kiely said. “I have opened our doors and showed our operations, everything we do to better educate them on everything that we do so they can better regulate the industry.”
Weisser wanted to provide council with the sequence of events that led them to speak at the meeting.
“I first would like to make it clear that I’m not here in an attempt to invalidate or to change the new ordinance that prohibits stores in Milford,” Weisser said. “I’m simply here to discuss how it applies to Fresh as part of the conversion licensing process. Fresh was required to provide OMC evidence of approval. In fact, the state would not have issued Fresh its conversion license without this, and I have written confirmation from OMC that confirms this.”
Fresh Delaware submitted a zoning request on September 9 and, two days later, received a zoning verification letter from the city, confirming that a cannabis dispensary is permitted at the location as it would be considered retail sales. Fresh then submitted the conversion license application to the state with the city letter attached. One month later, Fresh received a notice from the state that they had been approved for both medical and retail sales.
“On October 29, we received the actual documentation that says we have an active license, and we have continued to make quarterly payments to OMC to retain that license,” Weisser said. “A day after receiving our approval from the state, we received a letter from the city telling us the city was considering a ban on retail sales, but by this time, we were already licensed. We were under the impression that the ordinance would have no impact on Fresh but was more directed toward future businesses looking to establish in Milford. It wasn’t until we applied for our new business license in 2025 that we were made aware the city believed the ordinance applied to us.”
Weisser stated they then reached out to legal counsel, who reached out to the city solicitor. There has been considerable “back-and-forth,” and, in February, Fresh sent a letter outlining their position to the city. City Solicitor David Rutt responded that there was an ordinance in place.
“The issue with this is we already had a license before we even received notice there was talk about banning it, about five months before this ordinance came into effect,” Weisser said. “I’m not here to argue the legal merits, but I have spoken to six different attorneys, and every single one tells us we are absolutely grandfathered in, and this ordinance does not apply to us.”
Weisser again stated that the state would not have issued the conversion license without local approval.
“The last thing I want to do is get in a legal battle with the municipality where I operate my business, but the legal system was put in place to protect individuals and small businesses like us in this very type of situation,” Weisser said. “Our last resort is to look to the courts for relief, and we are prepared to do that if the city is unwilling to agree we are grandfathered in. I don’t want to put any pressure, but adult-use sales are going to be launching in the next few months, and we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing.”
Fresh Delaware could have applied for the conversion license in another municipality had they known the city’s position before taking the steps to obtain the license, but Weisser stated they proceeded based on the zoning information they received in good faith from the town.
“The statutory window for conversion licenses has closed,” Weisser said. “So, we cannot apply somewhere else. I simply want council to understand our frustration and would simply like to be recognized as grandfathered in prior to the passage of the ordinance.”
Because the two men spoke during public comment, council was not permitted to respond or make comment on the matter. It was not made clear whether the issue would be placed on a future agenda or handled by staff.
The state’s retail marijuana industry has been frustrated by delays in getting dispensaries up and running. In April, two bills were introduced in the General Assembly to help alleviate those delays. One would change language in the request to have the FBI conduct fingerprinting for store operators, while the second would address bans on retail locations at the county level.
State law allowed municipalities to ban retail sales of marijuana outright, which Milford and several other cities have done. However, the law stated that while counties could restrict locations somewhat, they could not ban retail outlets outright nor could they make the zoning so restrictive that a retail marijuana store could not be placed in that county at all.
In 2024, Columbia Care was denied an application for a retail marijuana location in Sussex County, which has the strictest zoning laws related to the industry in the state. In that county, retail stores can only be placed in C3 zoning, designed for heavy commercial uses. In addition, any C3 zone that is within three miles of a municipality, church, school, or substance abuse treatment center is restricted for retail sales of marijuana. If the legislation is passed, Sussex County would have to change its zoning regulations, making them less restrictive.
