KALAMAZOO, MI — City Attorney Clyde Robinson is working on an ordinance that would allow medical marijuana facilities to open, but it probably won’t be ready for a vote until the first months of 2018.
Kalamazoo postponed a decision on how it plans to react to new state laws governing medical marijuana facilities while it waited for the release the rules that will govern their operation. Monday, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs finally made these rules public, prompting Robinson to begin determining how they would affect local ordinance changes drafted in the fall.
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” Robinson said. “This is a very large project and you have to take it one step at a time.”
It doesn’t mean Kalamazoo has given marijuana the green light. The City Commission will need to pass changes to its zoning code and code of ordinances.
New state laws regulating medical marijuana prompted communities across Michigan to decide how they will respond to the growing industry. Each municipality can decide for itself whether to pass an ordinance allowing the facilities to open, or not.
Commissioners expressed relief that the state finally solidified details that were vital for municipalities in determining ordinance rules related to zoning and regulation.
Robinson had been proactively pursuing the goal of having anordinance ready before people can begin applying for a state license on Dec. 15.
“I promised that once we had the rules we’d start in earnest, maybe making some adjustments to the draft ordinances that I prepared,” Robinson said. “These are emergency rules … there will probably be changes between now and next June. For now at least, we have a road map from the state.”
Mayor Bobby Hopewell asked Robinson to compare Kalamazoo’s draft ordinance with Lansing’s version, which passed in September.
Lansing’s ordinance will cap provisioning centers, also known as dispensaries, at 25. A previous version of Kalamazoo’s ordinance called for one provisioning center per 10,000 people, which would allow around seven dispensaries in the city.
According to a draft presented in the fall, medical marijuana facilities will likely either be placed in limited and general manufacturing districts or community commercial districts.
Limited manufacturing districts are primarily intended to accommodate low-impact manufacturing uses and activities that are not significantly objectionable to surrounding properties in terms of traffic, noise, odor, smoke and other nuisance factors.
General manufacturing districts accommodate low, moderate and high-impact industrial uses and activities and to are intended to prevent encroachment by residential and other uses that would eventually lead to land use conflicts.
Community commercial districts are intended to accommodate larger community and regional shopping centers that serve a community-wide market area.
LARA will begin accepting applications for licenses to open five types of marijuana facilities next week. Licenses likely won’t be issued until the first quarter of 2018.
The city held several public forums on proposed changes to its zoning ordinance and code of ordinances. Patients, caregivers and stakeholders have been involved in the process for several months.
Meanwhile, Kalamazoo Township passed an ordinance allowing entrepreneurs to open state-licensed medical marijuana facilities after March 1, 2018. Portage intends to pursue medical marijuana ordinances, with the specifics to be known by the end of December.
Medical marijuana facilities will not be allowed to open in Comstock Township, its Board of Trustees decided Monday. Trustees said Comstock could reverse its decision in the future, but for now patients will have to go elsewhere for their medicine.
The five types of licenses include:
- Growers (who cultivate the product)
- Processors (who refine the product into concentrates and edibles)
- Safety compliance facilities (which test the product for potency and contamination)
- Secure transporters (who transport the product between facilities)
- Provisioning Centers (also known as dispensaries)
credit:mlive.com
