HOLLAND NEEDS MORE TIME TO CREATE ITS MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE

HOLLAND - Holland leaders will get more time to craft an ordinance
outlining the sale of medical marijuana.

The City Council on Wednesday voted 7-2 to approve a three-month
extension of a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. The
action extends a ban in effect for nearly six months and was set to
expire Feb. 25.

"What we're trying to do is put this on hold a little bit, while we
try to sort things out," said Mayor Kurt Dykstra, who voted in favor
of the extension. "There is a whole lot of confusion going on with this law."

Holland is one of many West Michigan municipalities that have been
wrestling with how to come up with local laws that fit state voter's
2008 approval of medical marijuana use. Earlier this week, Walker
city officials approved a similar extension of a moratorium on
issuing such licenses or permits.

The law allows individual caregivers to grow up to 72 plants - 12
each for themselves and five others who have been approved for use of
medical marijuana.

City planners have been discussing options for allowing the use of
medical marijuana, but have expressed concerns about trying to
prevent the development of large-scale dispensaries. Those discussion
have included talks with neighboring communities, including Holland
Township, so that similar laws can be crafted.

"(The Planning Commission) is striving to develop an ordinance for
the city that is as compatible as possible with neighboring
communities in order to minimize confusion throughout the community,
including but not limited to those who will be responsible for
enforcement," city Community and Neighborhood Services Director Phil
Meyer wrote in a memo to city officials.

Councilmen Mike Trethewey and Todd Whiteman voted against the
extension, with Trethewey expressing concern that the present wording
isn't tight enough. He also favors a longer extension.

"It's a tenuous position we're being put in, because people who are
supposed to be making the laws can't make up their stinking minds,"
Trethewey said. "It's a lose-lose situation."

Voting in favor of the extension were Dykstra, Mayor Pro Tem Bob
Vande Vusse, and council members Nancy DeBoer, Brian Burch, Jay
Peters, Jerome Thomas-Kobes and David Hoekstra.