When Harrison Township votes on its medical marijuana ordinance next month, there is expected to be little opposition to the plan to allow a couple of dozen cannabis businesses into the Macomb County community.
“At last check, we had 18 legitimate grow operations in the community. At a minimum, if there is an existing business, why would we tell the owner, ‘You have to evict your tenant?’” said township Supervisor Ken Verkest. “This is a great source of revenue for us. Whether you like it or not, it’s coming. Isn’t it better to eliminate these black market, cash-only guys?”
It’s a different story in Oakland County’s Oakland Township, where township Supervisor Dale Stuart says medical marijuana businesses will never be welcome.
“We have limited business space in Oakland Township. We’re primarily a residential community,” he said. “This community has no interest in having marijuana dispensaries.”
Since the state Legislature passed bills last year to regulate and tax medical marijuana, communities have been grappling with whether they want the cannabis businesses in their town.
So that leaves it up to cities, villages and townships in Michigan, which are authorized to allow or prohibit medical marijuana businesses, to determine how much medical weed there will be in the state.
The Detroit Free Press put calls out to nearly all of the 127 communities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to see what their stance is on medical marijuana businesses. Of the 73 that returned calls, only five communities in the three counties — Detroit, where a voter-passed ordinance takes effect Jan. 4, Inkster, River Rouge, Lenox Township and Orion Township — have passed ordinances that will allow medical marijuana businesses in their towns.
Several dozen communities across the state, especially rural communities with lots of empty industrial space, have passed ordinances and are anxious to capitalize on the new market. Bay County’s Bangor Township, for example, passed an ordinance that will allow for up to 100 grow licenses and 15 dispensaries for the town that has a population of 14,641 people in a county that has 2,327 medical marijuana card holders.
No gold rush
The slow pace of license applications for medical marijuana businesses —there have been only 72 applications filed with the state since they started accepting applications on Dec. 15 — is partially explained by the provision in the law that puts local communities in charge of the new industry in the state. That industry is estimated to have more than $700 million in sales and $21 million in tax revenues.
Meanwhile, 38 communities outside of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have decided to opt in, allowing medical cannabis, and the tax dollars they’ll create, into their towns.
The state was ready for a rush of entrepreneurs when it began accepting applications on Dec. 15. The state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs set up rope lines at its Lansing offices and four windows with employees ready to accept applications and the $6,000 fee required for a business person to get their foot in the door.
That first day, only nine people showed up at LARA offices to turn in applications. Since Dec. 15, only eight people have filed full applications that include approval from communities and an identified location for the business that is needed before a license can be awarded by the state. The other 55 applications have been of the pre-qualification variety, which means the state can do all the background checks on the business owners, but they can’t be considered for a license until they get the necessary approval from a community that’s passed an ordinance.
“It’s been difficult for locals to do their part until we did our part,” said David Harns, spokesman for LARA, noting that the state didn’t release the full rules that will regulate the new industry until earlier this month. “We figure the local municipalities are saying let’s wait and see what the state is doing and we expect the local municipalities will come on board relatively soon.”
How many?
In Detroit, people won’t be able to apply for city approval until the ordinance approved by voters in November goes into effect on Jan. 4. And it’s unknown yet how many licenses will be available, said city Corporation Counsel Butch Hollowell.
Zoning requirements and the 500-foot barrier between medical marijuana facilities and schools, daycare centers, churches and parks will help determine the number of licenses, Hollowell noted.
“But this is the will of the voters and city is proceeding along those lines,” Hollowell said.
In Orion Township, where medical marijuana businesses will be relegated to an industrial park on the south side of the township, 12 licenses will be made available: 6 Class C growing licenses, which will allow for 1,500 marijuana plants, and two licenses each for processors, testers and secure transporters.
Like many communities in the state, no dispensaries will be allowed in the township, said Supervisor Chris Barnett.
“That’s something our board took the position that we wanted to walk before we ran. That’s the one category that we considered to be more disruptive and a challenge for public safety,” he said.
Another 10 communities — Troy, Ferndale, Waterford, Hazel Park, Walled Lake, Warren, Harrison Township, Harper Woods, the cities of Wayne and Romulus — are working on how many businesses they’ll allow and are expected to pass ordinances early next year.
“We’re going to participate, but we decided to pause a little bit to wait for the state to fully develop their rules,” said Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter. “The question is, what licenses do we want to offer and how many.”
The city has some practical considerations, such as the lack of available space for growing operations and the desire of the community to allow dispensaries.
“That’s the one they care the most about,” Coulter said. “They want to have local, safe and convenient access to medical marijuana.”
In Harrison Township, the board will consider a proposal to allow for 18 growing locations, 18 processing licenses, and five licenses each for transporters and testers. But they don’t want dispensaries in the township.
“The voters approved medical marijuana, not because a majority of them used it, but they don’t want to take away the rights of others who need to use it,” Verkest said. “But here we don’t want it shoved in our face. If you want to grow something, go ahead, but don’t put a store at the end of my street.”
No room for pot
More than two dozen towns in the three counties have said they don’t want medical marijuana businesses in their communities. And 27 more have not brought up the issue for a vote, saying they either have no interest in the business whatsoever, or they want to see how the business atmosphere shakes out in other communities that have decided to let weed flow.
“For right now, we’re standing pat and not allowing it,” said Jerome Hanna, director of inspections for the City of Livonia. ”But I’m not sure where it will go in the future.”
In Chesterfield Township, Supervisor Daniel J. Acciavatti said he has been getting bombarded with calls from businesses that want to move into the Macomb County community.
“But there’s not a lot of desire by our board to take any action now or anytime soon,” he said. “But we’ll have to see what happens with other communities. If attitude changes here, I guess it’s something to look at. But it’s an issue that’s just not ready yet.”
And in Brownstown Township, leaders want to wait and see if anyone sues over the law before jumping in to the medical marijuana business.
“I don’t feel it’s a good use of taxpayer money to litigate the matter,” said Supervisor Andy Linko. “There are too many loopholes that the pro- and anti-marijuana people want to exploit.”
Other communities are taking a much harder line against medical marijuana. Kevin McNamara, supervisor of Van Buren Township, said his community is doing just fine without weed.
“We feel there’s a negative connotation for the community. We don’t believe premier communities are going to embrace medical marijuana,” he said. “And the police tell us that it would cost us more in enforcement than we can collect in taxes for it.”
In northern Oakland County, Rose Township Supervisor Dianne Scheib-Snider said her community has little room for such businesses.
“We felt we’re a bedroom, farming and family community,” she said. “And we didn’t think anyone raising a family would want that in their backyard.”
West Bloomfield Township Steven Kaplan said the township is willing to forego the tax revenues that would come from medical marijuana.
“The seven board members have taken a policy stand that businesses of this nature are not beneficial to the community,” he said. “Maybe 10 businessmen have contacted us hoping that we would relent, but we feel strongly about this issue.”
Commerce Township Supervisor David Scott not only is adamantly opposed to medical marijuana in his community, but he’s called the police on businesses in nearby communities and hopes they won’t pass ordinances allowing medical cannabis businesses.
“We’re not going to have any of the commercial opportunities here whatsoever and I’m hoping and praying our neighbors do the same,” he said. “We have not found a legitimate operation yet.”
In Westland, the recovering economy means that the industrial parks are pretty much full and retail corridors are either full or nearly so, said Bruce Thompson, building and planning director. So medical marijuana is something the city doesn’t necessarily need right now.
“But I get multiple inquiries every week, no question about it,” he said of business people hoping to bring their medical marijuana businesses to Westland. “I take their information, just in case.”
There is no deadline to file applications with the state for medical marijuana licenses. Once background checks are done next year, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board will begin issuing licenses starting in the first quarter of 2018.
While the issue facing communities today is only medical marijuana, a group pushing a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use has turned in more than 350,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to get the issue on the November 2018 general election ballot. If it passes, Michigan would be the ninth state and the second largest in the country to legalize marijuana for all uses.
Outstate communities saying yes
Outside the three-county area, these communities will allow medical marijuana businesses: Cities: Bangor, Niles, Ypsilanti, Buchanan, Clare, Evart, Lansing, Vassar, White Cloud, Marshall, Morenci, Newaygo.
Townships: Leoni, Mueller, Carp Lake, Pleasant Plains, Acme, Au Gres, AuSable, Bangor, Crockery, DeTour, Frederic, Gibson, Humboldt, Kalamazoo, Kawkawlin, Parma, Pinconning, Sharon, Windsor.
credit:freep.com
