Rutland Constitution Township officers have spent greater than a yr engaged on marijuana ordinances. However as that draft reaches its last levels, Trustee Gene Corridor nonetheless has a priority.
“Are we going to have a stretch alongside M-37 that has seven marijuana companies facet by facet?” Corridor requested in the course of the Nov. 10 township board assembly.
The board mentioned the latest drafts of the marijuana enterprise zoning and regulatory ordinances. McKenna Planning guide Rebecca Harvey wrote the textual content, and legal professional Craig Rolfe offered suggestions on the latest draft.
By the tip of its assembly, the board unanimously agreed to set a public listening to for 7 p.m. Jan. 19, 2022, to solicit suggestions from the group on the regulatory ordinance.
Though the ordinances are close to implementation, disagreement has continued over whether or not to restrict the variety of marijuana companies within the township.
The present drafts of the zoning and regulatory ordinances don’t place a cap on what number of retail companies may function within the township. They’re solely permissible within the mixed-use district that stretches alongside M-37/M-43 from Walmart close to Cook dinner Street to the hospital property simply west of Tanner Lake Street.
That district may embody marijuana retail companies, medical marijuana and marijuana processors, medical marijuana provisioning facilities, marijuana micro-businesses, marijuana safe transporters and medical marijuana safe transporter compliance services.
Corridor stated he continues to fret about the potential for marijuana companies flocking to the world.
“I simply don’t need to see that stretch flip into marijuana mile,” he stated in the course of the assembly, suggesting the township prohibit these companies from working inside 1,000 toes of each other.
However different board members pushed again, noting they need to not limit the space between marijuana companies if they don’t accomplish that for different companies.
“You’ll be able to’t level your finger at one enterprise and say, ‘It’s a must to comply with these guidelines, however everyone else doesn’t,’” Clerk Robin Hawthorne stated.
Rolfe had suggested the board that implementing such a regulation may open the township to a lawsuit, she stated.
Zoning Administrator Les Raymond, who attended the assembly, stated they’ve had comparable conversations on the planning fee stage.
“We felt that the business may regulate the variety of companies fairly than the township regulate,” Raymond stated.
Supervisor Larry Watson agreed.
“These individuals govern themselves,” Watson stated. “They do not stack on high of each other.”
Within the viewers, Steve Storrs, an legal professional, stated he was visiting on behalf of a shopper who’s fascinated with opening a marijuana enterprise in Rutland Township.
He famous that the majority townships restrict the variety of retailers, and stated that he didn’t suppose Rutland could be prone to a lawsuit if it put restrictions on the variety of companies.
“You will have a number of individuals there which have been very as quickly because the ordinance handed,” he stated.
Following the assembly, Hawthorne stated she doesn’t suppose the board will cap the variety of marijuana companies or implement any main modifications to the ordinances.
“We have talked it over fairly a bit and we have taken fairly a couple of months of debate and speaking and listening to from specialists and other people coming in and speaking to us,” she stated. “I do not foresee [the ordinances changing]. However that is simply my opinion. I believe it’s going to in all probability undergo as it’s.”
Quite a few steps nonetheless stay. The board must host January’s public listening to and, all through the winter, full two formal readings of the ultimate ordinances.
Hawthorne estimated that provisions for these companies gained’t go into impact till someday within the spring of 2022. However, after months of discussing the ordinances, she stated the tip feels shut.
“It appears so good to nearly be on the finish as a result of I am so drained,” she stated. “I’ve obtained so many information in my workplace simply crammed filled with paper, it has been so lengthy. We have actually carried out a number of analysis and a protracted course of on this. It isn’t been a speedy choice by any means.
“We labored actually onerous to get it proper – as proper as you will get it.”
In different enterprise, the board:
• Mentioned bids to revamp its web site. The township acquired 5 bids and determined to do extra analysis on two of the businesses, LIAA of Traverse Metropolis and Pixelvine of Freeport.
• Accepted a cemetery ordinance for second studying.
• Held a public listening to for its 2022 funds. The decision to approve the spending plan gained’t happen till subsequent month.
• Adopted the second studying of the grasp plan.
• Gave Step 1 approval to a 36-unit housing improvement that will probably be situated throughout from the Barry County fairgrounds. This motion implies that the developer, Carl Algera, has all of his paperwork accurately and adequately filed with the township. Algera should proceed by way of a three-step course of, together with placing down the infrastructure, connecting the septic and constructing the roads, earlier than he can begin establishing the housing models.
