SOUTHFIELD TO VOTE ON MARIJUANA ZONE

City Would Limit Growers to Industrial Areas

Southfield's City Council is to vote Tuesday on strict zoning
proposals that limit medical marijuana growing areas to light
industrial districts, as communities statewide struggle to comply
with the state's medical marijuana law.

"Some communities have taken a prohibition approach," said Southfield
Planning Director Terry Croad. "Anybody who's got a moratorium has a
wait-and-see approach. We're recommending a regulatory approach."

Council members are to vote at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Cities have created zoning proposals, laws, moratoriums and outright
bans since Michigan voters passed the Medical Marijuana Act in 2008.
The law allows those with medical conditions to use marijuana and
caregivers to grow up to 12 plants each for themselves and five patients.

Lawsuits are pending in Wayne County Circuit Court that were filed by
the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan to challenge bans on
medical marijuana in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia.
Bloomfield Township was sued in December after passing an ordinance
that prohibits growing marijuana and requires users to register with police.

On Jan. 10, the Farmington Hills City Council tabled its regulations
that allow personal medical marijuana use in residents' own homes.
The regulations use land use guidelines to curb commercial medical
marijuana transactions in the city, essentially forbidding compassion
clubs and dispensaries.

Council members said they wanted to study a Grand Rapids ordinance
that allows medical marijuana growing as a home occupation in which
the caregiver delivers the marijuana.

"There are some communities that said, 'Hey, our people voted for
this; we've got to do it,' " said Phil McKenna, president of McKenna
Associates, a municipal planning firm working with more than two
dozen Michigan communities on medical marijuana laws. "And there are
others that are saying, 'What we voted for isn't what we're getting.'
I think there's a lot of confusion out there."

Southfield's guidelines propose locating caregiver growing operations
in five light industrial districts. The businesses must be at least
200 feet from residential areas.

The city has 20 potential sites, Croad said.

ACLU of Michigan staff attorney Dan Korobkin said Friday that
Southfield's law is too restrictive.

"I think having so few areas you can do that, and making it so you
have to open up a business, means you're placing unreasonable
regulations on caregivers," Korobkin said.

Longtime Southfield City Councilman Sidney Lantz opposes the
regulations and said he thinks the proposal allows the city to grant
waivers for operations outside the zones -- a point of disagreement
with Mayor Brenda Lawrence.

"I think it puts us in the position where we'll have control of it,"
Lawrence said. "It'll give the people the right they voted to have,
and it will provide services for those who qualify for medical marijuana."