MARIJUANA PUTS RESIDENTS AT RISK

The Traverse City Planning Commission recently approved a proposed
ordinance governing the transfer and cultivation of medical
marijuana. This ordinance threatens the safety and integrity of
Traverse City's residential neighborhoods by allowing up to 72
marijuana plants to be grown in our single-family homes, sheds and garages.

No registration, inspection, or landlord notification will be
required. Even law enforcement agencies won't know where these grow
sites are located.

This ordinance deals with a substance still illegal under federal
law. Marijuana-related crime often involves violence, weapons, and
large sums of money. Secrecy will not deter pot-related crime.

Good lighting, high visibility, and regular police surveillance of
identified medical marijuana grow sites will.

Restricting cultivation of more than 12 medical marijuana plants to
just single-family homes or industrial sites puts undue pressure on
our residential neighborhoods, where growers will be able to avoid
both oversight and "middle man" costs.

Traverse City needs its single-family housing stock. This is the
housing that lends stability to our community and shelters the
families that keep our schools viable. Generations of residents have
given of their time, talent, and treasure to protect and improve
these neighborhoods.

City commissioners will soon have the opportunity to protect our
neighborhoods, and lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the
burgeoning medical marijuana Industry. The business of medical
marijuana cultivation should be recognized as a legitimate health
care occupation by amending the proposed ordinance to allow medical
marijuana cultivation in all appropriate zoning districts, including
commercial and mixed-use districts.

If cultivation of more than the 12 plants allowed to individual
registered patients is permitted in residential neighborhoods, it
should be designated as a home occupation and our home occupations
ordinance should be amended, as was done in Grand Rapids, to include
registration, landlord notification, and periodic inspections.

This is not a "done deal." Please familiarize yourself with this
ordinance, which is available online, at city hall, or at the
Traverse City Area District Library. Ask that commissioners protect
our single-family neighborhoods by amending the proposed Medical
Marijuana ordinance to:

. Allow medical marijuana cultivation in all appropriate zoning
districts, including commercial and mixed-use districts.

. Require registration, periodic inspection, and landlord
notification of all home occupations if cultivation of more than 12
medical marijuana plants per registered patient is allowed in single
family homes

Remember, if you say nothing, commissioners assume you agree with the
proposed ordinance.

To learn more about the marijuana culture, Google Marijuana Inc. View
the video by that name and also the AI Roker report.