July 10th’s meeting had a massive turnout, with all in attendance in support of Medical Marijuana
Grand Rapids had a very large turnout in support of medical marijuana on July 10th. The room was packed to capacity, and not one person was there to speak against the ordinance.
The city is considering two different zoning amendment recommendations, a restrictive option put forth by the planning director, and a more lenient option put forth by the planning commission. Support from the public was largely in favor of the more lenient planning commission recommendation.
While public support leans towards the Planning Commission plan (no annual fee, less restrictive zoning, etc), the implementation of either plan would set Grand Rapids as a massive emerging market for the Cannabis Industry. It seems the City of Grand Rapids is working on, and truly wants to create a positive system in which patients will have access to their medicine. The details of each proposed plan are as follows:
If the city decides to go with the planning director’s recommendation, there is a maximum of 41 parcels that would qualify, many of which are already occupied or not available for sale. It is more realistic to expect 10-15 locations if that ordinance in adopted.
$5,000
Under this proposal all medical marihuana facilities would be subject to the following separation requirements:
A 1,000 feet separation distance would be required from uses and residential zone districts in adjoining local jurisdictions.
Permits the stacking of grower licenses to permit more plants than would otherwise be allowed for the license.
Allows more that one license (grower, processor, and/or provisioning center) to be located on the same parcel.
None
Under this proposal zoning restrictions vary based on facility type.
Provisioning Centers
Growers, Processors, Secure Transporters, and Safety Compliance Facilities
A 1,000 feet separation distance would not be required from uses and residential zone districts in adjoining local jurisdictions.
Permits the stacking of grower licenses to permit more plants than would otherwise be allowed for the license.
Allows more that one license (grower, processor, and/or provisioning center) to be located on the same parcel.
None
The Grand Rapids City Commission voted 5-1 to enact a 6 month moratorium on medical marijuana applications at Tuesday’s meeting. Grand Rapids is one of the only cities that intentionally considered local small business owners by providing space for micro businesses in their ordinance. They have made a strong effort to maintain ‘buy local’ values and support entrepreneurs within the city.
However, the effect that this moratorium will have on those entrepreneurs is unclear. We do know that this substantial delay is going to leave hundreds of potential applicants scrambling for money. This is why.
When a major city like Grand Rapids opts in to allow for medical marijuana facilities, there is a pretty standard chain of events that occurs. We have seen it over and over across the state, and it typically goes something like this.
Over the next six months, we are going to see a lot people run out of money trying to hold onto real estate in an extremely competitive space while they wait for the city. Their contracts will expire, and many of those properties will come back on the market and go to the next buyer. Unfortunately, it seems the groups that will suffer the most are the small business owners. They don’t have the funding behind them that the bigger operations do, and they won’t be able to continue burning the cash needed to extend purchase agreements and keep locations secured.
Some say that there was no room for smaller operators anyway because of the inflated real estate prices. However, we can be certain that the groups that were well prepared, got in early, and had just enough money to start their own business will definitely suffer.
There is a work session scheduled for October 9 to discuss the marijuana facility application process, as well as some potential changes to the ordinance. One of the proposed changes include removing the prequalification requirement from the ordinance. If this happens, it would drastically increase the number of people eligible to apply for a facility permit within the city. Whether that will be good for the small businesses in the City of Grand Rapids is yet to be seen, as it will likely increase demand and drive up real estate prices even farther.
The City of Grand Rapids is set to be western Michigan’s marijuana hub, and the City Commission knows it. After the Commission held a public hearing on July 10th, the Commission took a large amount of the public comment into consideration, and has created an updated medical marijuana facility ordinance. According to the Grand Rapids website, “The draft ordinance, as prepared by the Planning Department, was developed in collaboration with the City’s Police Department, Attorney’s Office, City Clerk, and included an extensive research evaluation process.”
In developing this new “hybrid ordinance”, the Planning Department researched marijuana ordinances and zoning policies held by Denver, Ann Arbor, Los Angeles and Phoenix, and modeled their updated medical marijuana ordinance on these policies. The Planning Department also reviewed how Lansing, Detroit, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo have addressed the issue of locating medical marijuana provisioning centers and other marijuana facilities within their municipalities .
When drafting the hybrid ordinance, the Planning Department evaluated whether the city should utilize a quota system setting a maximum number of marijuana facilities allowed, or separation distance requirements to naturally limit the number of cannabis dispensaries and other marijuana facilities. They came to the conclusion that a quota system puts an incredible burden on the administration, and may also result in a large number of lawsuits from those not receiving marijuana facility licenses, similar to Troy, Lansing, and Detroit.
As a result, they decided on a stringent separation distance system, which will naturally restrict the number of marijuana provisioning centers and other facilities that will open within the City of Grand Rapids, but allow the free market to naturally determine who is able to acquire a marijuana facility permit. They noted this system will work very similar to how billboards are regulated in the city, with a 1000 foot distance required between each billboard.
The proposed hybrid medical marijuana ordinance was drafted to allow the adoption of a sixth license type, micro-marijuana businesses, assuming the November recreational marijuana ballot initiative passes. The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (MRTMA) adds the sixth license type for the sale of recreational marijuana, and is intended to provide opportunity for small start-ups in the highly competitive marijuana industry. Think of it as a microbrewery, for marijuana.
The hybrid ordinance proposes 208 parcels available for marijuana growers, processors, provisioning centers, secure transporters, and safety compliance facilities, which allows for up to 43 non-micro marijuana facility business locations after separation distances are applied. There are 1,253 parcels for potential micro-businesses. It seems the Grand Rapids City Commission is preparing to cater toward the recreational sale of marijuana in the future, while still allowing medical marijuana facilities in the current system.
Additional Ordinance Updates:
From what we have seen, the Grand Rapids City Commission and Planning department has developed these hybrid marijuana facility ordinance changes very strategically, specifically through researching major marijuana friendly cities like Denver and L.A., and listening to local requests to leave room for the small marijuana business owners. By allowing a significant number of micro-business parcels, it is apparent that the city is actually listening to community feedback and planning for a successful future in the local marijuana industry.
It is safe to say the City of Grand Rapids plans on being the state’s premier marijuana-friendly municipality and they are well on their way. The commission will tentatively vote on the hybrid ordinance at the July 24th meeting.
Yesterday was a historic day for the Grand Rapids community, and Michigan marijuana community as a whole. Grand Rapids officially opted in, passing an ordinance allowing marijuana facilities in the city. If you haven’t already, check out our overview of the original proposed hybrid ordinance released last week.
The biggest challenge the City Commission faced was how to opt in to the MMFLA without destroying the opportunity for small local marijuana businesses to get involved. They decided this will be achieved through allowing locations specifically for marijuana micro-businesses, pending the November vote on recreational marijuana.
The City Commission plans on preventing “Big Cannabis” from taking complete control of the Grand Rapids market by allowing only Michigan residents to apply for a cannabis micro-business license for the first two years. Micro-business owners will not be allowed to hold another marijuana facility license type, which is another way local business will be protected in the local Grand Rapids marijuana industry.
Amendments Made to the Ordinance:
On the surface, increased buffer distances for medical marijuana facilities makes Grand Rapids a more difficult municipality to get involved in. But in reality, they did this to protect local business down the road. They discussed the fear of being too lenient, which would effectively fill the market immediately, thereby crushing any opportunity for local micro-businesses to get involved in the future. The City Commission is also seeing municipalities like Detroit, Lansing and Troy facing lawsuits, which they want to avoid.
These increased buffer distances, while serving the purpose of protecting the interests of schools, churches, rehab facilities, etc., also allow the future opportunity for additional amendment reducing buffer distances to allow micro-businesses a chance at the market. It is very difficult for a municipality to come back later and increase these distances, but lowering them to allow room for recreational businesses is a strong possibility. The $5,000 annual fee is standard in most municipalities, as the revenue is intended to defray administrative and policing costs, as well as an undetermined portion of which will be disbursed throughout the community.
Timeline:
The Grand Rapids City Commission plans on meeting at a later date to discuss plans regarding VEDA’s and how the tax revenue will be disbursed. But great progress has been made, and they will continue to improve.