FERNDALE ENACTS ZONING FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESSES

FERNDALE -- The City Council amended zoning ordinances Monday to
allow for medical marijuana businesses in the city.

Marijuana businesses will be allowed in the city under special land
use permits to be issued by the Planning Commission in designated
zones, said City Manager Robert Bruner.

As it stands medical pot businesses are limited to three zones --
light industrial, heavy industrial and office space districts.

However, any marijuana business that includes more than 20 percent of
its space for growing pot is prohibited from the office district.

The office space district in Ferndale is concentrated mostly along
quarter-mile stretches of Eight Mile and Nine Mile roads on the east
side of the city.

The heavy and light industrial districts are clustered chiefly around
the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks which run parallel to Woodward
several blocks to the east.

Bruner said marijuana businesses under the new rules are not allowed
in the central business district or along major thoroughfares such as
Woodward, Hilton, Livernois and most of Eight Mile and Nine Mile Roads.

The issue of whether to allow pot outlets in the commercial district
was referred back to the Planning Commission, Bruner said.

"There may be more zoning to come," he said.

Councilman Mike Lennon said that though most of the zoning for
medical marijuana was decided Monday some changes are likely.

"It's going to need to be tweaked a little bit," he said. "From
everything I've heard there a lot of medical marijuana businesses
interested in coming to Ferndale."

Councilman T. Scott Galloway was absent from Monday's council meeting
where the new zoning was approved in a 4-0 vote.

Though medical marijuana outlets are currently banned along Hilton
Road, one dispensary called Clinical Relief opened on Hilton a few
blocks north of Eight Mile shortly before the city enacted a
moratorium on such businesses June 14.

The 90-day moratorium was passed to give officials time to draft
rules for marijuana dispensaries and growing operations. Bruner said
the Clinical Relief site will be allowed to continue operations and
be grandfathered in under the new rules.

Other communities such as Hazel Park and Royal Oak have also passed
moratoriums on pot businesses while they work to draft zoning
ordinances and rules. Other cities, including Livonia and Birmingham,
have banned medical marijuana businesses in their communities

The issue of allowing marijuana dispensaries and growing operations
in Ferndale has stirred very few objections, officials said.

"It hasn't been controversial here at all," Lennon said. "Everything
has gone relatively smooth."

Ferndale never considered joining those cities that have banned
medical marijuana outlets, Bruner said.

"It was clear a majority of Ferndale voters approved medical
marijuana," he said. "The council was looking for a way to reasonably
reflect the will of the people and I think we achieved that with
these ordinances."

Caregivers and patients at marijuana facilities in Ferndale are
required to be legally registered by the Michigan Department of
Community Health.

The facilities are not allowed within 500 feet of an educational
institution, nursery school, child care center or another marijuana facility.

Hours are limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Marijuana use and drive-through
services are banned at the facilities, which must provide adequate
parking and submit a security and floor plan to the city.

Ferndale also requires marijuana business operators to have a waste
disposal plan detailing chemical and plant waste disposal.

Marijuana grow operations are required to get approval from the state
Department of Environmental Quality and the City of Detroit to
discharge of growing by-products into the city sewer system.