MT. PLEASANT ASKED TO LOOK AT LAWS ON MARIJUANA BUSINESSES

One of the owners of a medical marijuana dispensary in Mt. Pleasant is
urging the City Commission to adopt zoning and licensing laws for
marijuana-related businesses in the city.

But the mayor and city manager said the city is not yet ready to
move.

Brandon McQueen, one of the principals in the Compassionate
Apothecary, suggested that Mt. Pleasant adopt laws modeled on laws
proposed for the city of Ann Arbor.

That community's city council is set to give final approval to new
ordinances this week.

"It is a very, very good ordinance," McQueen said. "There are only two
or three things that need to be changed."

According to a report in AnnArbor.com, that community of nearly
114,000 people is host to 15 to 18 medical marijuana-related
businesses. Mt. Pleasant, with a population is less than a quarter of
Ann Arbor's, is home to at least three such businesses.

The proposal from a city with some of the most lenient marijuana
ordinances in the United States calls for dispensaries to be limited
to commercial or office zones, while growing operations could operate
in commercial and industrial areas. State-licensed caregivers who grow
in their own homes wouldn't be affected.

Dispensaries would be licensed by a licensing board, and the law
requires record-keeping and labeling of the product.

But City Manager Kathie Grinzinger said Mt. Pleasant isn't ready to
begin the formal process of developing and adopting a medical
marijuana business ordinance.

"We are continuing to collect information," Grinzinger said. Mayor
Bruce Kilmer said the city of Mt. Pleasant is likely to wait for the
results of an appeal in a case involving the Compassionate Apothecary
before making any move. Isabella County Trial Court Judge Paul
Chamberlain ruled that the dispensary did not constitute a nuisance
under the city's zoning law; Isabella County Prosecuting Attorney
Larry Burdick is appealing that decision.

"Since that case came right from our community," Kilmer said, "we
thought we'd wait for that one."

Meanwhile, Union Township's planning commission is set to get its
first look at the first draft of a proposed medical marijuana business
ordinance Wednesday night.

The proposal calls for both licensing and zoning restrictions on
medical marijuana-related businesses.

The proposed zoning law would limit dispensaries to business and
industrial districts, but allow a business designated at a "marihuana
club" to operate in some residential zones with a special use permit.

Licenses would be issued by the zoning administrator, and the proposed
Union Township law would require at least 1,000 feet to separate
dispensaries, grow facilities or "marihuana clubs." It also would
require grow facilities be at least 1,000 feet and dispensaries at
least 500 feet from residentially zoned districts, churches, schools,
day care centers or parks.

The state law allows state-licensed caregivers to cultivate up to 12
marijuana plants; the proposal in Union Township sets a maximum of 72
plants in one home, grown indoors. The idea is not to interfere if
there are multiple caregivers in one family.

The township planning commission meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the
Union Township Hall, Lincoln and Pickard roads.