HOLLAND TOWNSHIP PLANNERS TAKE A FRESH START ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP - After working for four months on a medical
marijuana ordinance, township planners on Tuesday scrubbed it and
called for a fresh start, focusing on how the state law will be
regulated and implemented locally.

"We want to make sure the growing and distribution is conducted in a
manner which is safe and does not present a threat to neighbors or
the community," Zoning and Planning Administrator Jon Mersman said.

"The draft ordinance was full of references to compliance to the act
and other jargon. That will stay in the preamble, but the ordinance,
when written, will be our rules for compliance," Mersman said. He
said the township's biggest worry is that distribution points for
medical marijuana eventually could become problem areas for law enforcement.

"So we know that a transfer facility has to be registered, with only
patients and patient caregivers being there," Mersman said.

The other problem is creating an ordinance that requires safety
inspections of indoor growing locations, which require considerable
electrical power and watering requirements.

"That's a dangerous combination for people living in close
proximity," Mersman said.

Planning Commissioner LaVerne Johnson, who has been a commissioner
for 43 years, helping create rules for all kinds of township
development, never thought he'd have to deal with marijuana distribution rules.

"I was raised on a celery farm and the only thing we had back then
was some hard cider we snuck once in a while from my father's jug in
the barn," Johnson said.

Johnson himself doesn't have a problem with the state law allowing
the growing and use of medical marijuana.

"If it helps people who are sick, I'm all for it," Johnson said.

"But, if it's done here, we want to make sure it's done right," he said.