The facility at 15 Leonard Street, where owner Verdant 15 LLC is applying for a cannabis cultivator license. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
A Red Bank cannabis grower who scored the only borough license to grow wholesale cannabis is reorganizing and seeking a new license after the initial launch ended in a hazy cloud of business partner dissension, license revocations, and the pothead-harrowing sight of heaps of bud allegedly tossed in a dumpster.
Red Bank Police Benevolent Association Local 39 President (right) and longtime west side community advocate Freddy Boynton (left) chat in the hallway of Borough Hall after Zadlock addressed the Mayor and Borough Council against “unfounded accusations,” he said Boynton had made publicly against officers. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The Red Bank Mayor and Borough Council Wednesday night unanimously approved a resolution of support for Verdant 15 LLC, which, according to the resolution, is seeking a wholesale/cultivator license from the New Jersey Cannabis Control Commission.
The resolution of support, a requirement for a state license, simply states that the proposed business type is legally allowed under borough ordinances and would not exceed any license limit. 
Verdant 15 LLC is a corporation formed in March by principal Susan Duckworth of Rumson, according to business records filed with the New Jersey Department of Treasury.
Duckworth also owns the property at 15 Leonard Street, where a previous corporation in which she was a partner, Market Wave LLC, was approved and began growing operations inside a pair of small warehouses last year.
But Market Wave wound up foundering and losing both its state license and borough licenses amid a flurry of finger-pointing between business owners and the power utility whose electricity is needed to power lamps and fans inside the facility.
The indoor cannabis farm was up and running for several months before shutting down, with Market Wave partner Alexander Federico blaming the failure on electrical grid problems that he said caused the initial harvest to fail. Other partners in the business later came forward with a very different version of events.
In interviews, police reports and a complaint filed with the state cannabis commission, they said the business partners said Federico tossed the initial harvest in a dumpster as part of an attempt to seize control of the business and shut them out of the operation. (see previous redbankgreen coverage below).
RED BANK: CANNABIS GROWERS SAY PARTNER TOSSED $500K CROP IN DUMPSTER
Amid the turmoil, the company’s state license was revoked.
“One of the conditions of holding a municipal license here is you have to maintain your license with the state,” Borough attorney Greg Cannon said at Thursday’s meeting. “And that was revoked, so we revoked our license here.”
Cannon said the new company intends to open in the same location.
In other business the Mayor and Borough Council:
Approved the introduction of an ordinance to reorganize three parts of municipal government under the ageis of a newly created Department of Recreation of Human Services. The new department would meld the Department of Recreation, Division of Senior Services and the one-person community engagement department. It would be headed by a yet-to-be-named director.
Mother Emily Hertler gets the shot as her daughter, Red Bank Regional High School Senior Anna Hertler receives a proclamation from the Red Bank Mayor and Borough Council for being the school’s highest-ranking member of the Class of 2025 from Red Bank during Wednesday’s meeting. (photo by Brian Donohue)
Borough Manager Jim Gant said the idea was a recommendation included in a 2018 Managment Enhancement Report.
“I see that as the most efficient operation of those three departments so they don’t continue to operate in silos and can start pooling their resources and working together.”
Rev. Jacqueline Carr-Hamilton of Calvary Baptist Church accepts a proclamation in honor of Juneteenth from Mayor Billy Portman during Wednsday’s meeting.
Red Bank residents and longtime immigrant advocates Itzel Perez-Hernandez (center) and Julie Flores-Castillo (left) accept a proclamation declaring June Immigrant Heritage Month in the Borough of Red Bank during the June 12, 2025 meeting of the Mayor and Borough Council.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
