Saline City Council Allows Medical Marijuana Facilities: Here's What You Need to Know
Saline City Council approved two ordinances June 21 that will allow for the operation and regulation of medical marijuana facilities within the city.
The ordinances come 13 years after Michigan voters approved the legalization of medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana facilities remain illegal within the city, for now.
Four Types of Facilities Allowed - But Commercial Growers Are Not
The ordinances allow retail outlets (provisioning centers), processors. secure transporters and safety compliance facilities. Processors purchase marijuana from growers to make products. A safety compliance facility tests marijuana for contaminants and potency. A secure transporter stores and transports marijuana.
The city ordinance does not allow growing facilities.
All of the businesses will require a city permit to operate with in Saline.
Retail Not Allowed Downtown
Retail outlets will not be allowed downtown. The ordinance states the provisioning centers must not be within 1,000 feet of school property. Since Henne Field is school property, downtown is off-limits.
Continued Concern
Councillor Janet Dillon said she is concerned the ordinance language contains no cap on the number of facilities within the city. However, while there is no cap, there are zoning limitations that could essentially provide for caps in another way. As mentioned above, downtown is off-limits.
There was also stated concern that the retail outlets might pile up on the east and west ends of town. But the retail outlets must be 250 feet apart, from door to door, which should help reduce the number of commercial outlets.
Compromise Gets a Deal Done
Zoning issues continued to be a source of disagreement right up until the June 21 city council vote. Retail outlets, for example, require a special land use permit in commercial districts. But the safety compliance centers, processors and secured transporter businesses would have been considered permitted uses in industrial zones. Councillor Dean Girbach voiced opposition, saying that they should require special land use permits, too, because some industrial zones are in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
Girbach motioned to amend the ordinance to require all facilities to require special land use permits.
Councillor Jim Dell'Orco, who helped draft the ordinance as part of the Code Review Task Force, had previously been opposed to the amendment, saying that was a problem with zoning. But in the interest of finally passing the long-debated ordinance, Dell'Orco supported Girbach's proposed amendment.
In turn, Girbach went on to say the city should consider allowing retail outlets downtown.
Business Proposal
In 2019, former State Sen. Randy Richardville and Metro-Detroit pharmacists Hassan Ismail and Abraham Hajar, of Family Drugs Partnership Group, appeared at council before council to pitch their idea for a medical marijuana business in Saline.
Mayor Marl said he's not heard from Ismail or Hajar recently, but that he has recently spoken to Richardville about the subject.
Recreational Marijuana
Councillor Dillon said she would like to see the city pursue recreational marijuana facilities, saying there was more potential revenue there for the city. Mayor Marl suggested the city's code review task force might soon take up the issue. Councillor Jack Ceo has previously said he'd like to see how things go with medical marijuana before taking up recreational marijuana. Attorney Tom Forshee said it shouldn't be difficult amending ordinance language to allow recreational marijuana facilities.
How We Got Here
The ordinances grew out of the medical marijuana task force, which was chaired by Councillor Jack Ceo, who is also the former Deputy Police Chief of the Saline Police Department.
The task force held a public forum and surveyed the public before city council directed the city's Code Review Task Force to draft medical marijuana ordinances for consideration. That work began in August of 2020. Councillor Jim Dell'Orco served on the task force. The task force approved the medical marijuana facilities ordinance June 27 and sent the ordinances to the city's planning commission for review.
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