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www.newbuffalotimes.com
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Local Government Meetings New Buffalo Times
Democracy Requires Transparency
CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL LOU O’DONNELL, IV. MARK ROBERTSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, ROGER LIJESKI, BRIAN FLANAGAN City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD CHUCK HEIT, PRESIDENT HEATHER BLACK, VICE PRESIDENT JOHN HASKINS, TREASURER LISA WERNER, SECRETARY JOYCE LANTZ, TRUSTEE FRANK MARGRO, TRUSTEE PATRICIA NEWSTON, TRUSTEE CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH VILLAGE OF GRAND BEACH COUNCIL Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM
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Planning Commission takes first steps in marijuana businesses discussion
embers of the City of New Buffalo Planning Commission started the process of making a future recommendation with regards to how marijuana businesses would be regulated should they be allowed in the city at a special meeting Tuesday, Feb. 1. Planning Commission Chair Paul Billingslea said that they were there that night to elicit feedback form the public. Since the city is in the process of rezoning, he feels that it’s a timely conversation. “I think we need to take a hard look at zoning and decide what uses we want to allow in New Buffalo,” he said. Billinglsea said that the results of the survey, which was sent out to residents, revealed that 60% are in favor of having some type of marijuana business in the city (some were in favor of medical but not recreational) and 40% were opposed. City Manager Darwin Watson said that the City Council had requested that the Planning Commission have at least a public hearing to then “make a recommendation to the council as to how to regulate, whether to opt in – just what they think should be done.” City attorney Nick Curcio said that the 2008 MMMA (Michigan Medical Marijuana Act) authorized a medical marijuana program in Michigan through a caregiver system. Individuals could assist five qualifying patients who had medical marijuana cards and could provide a limited amount of marijuana to them, a program that still exists today. In 2016, the governor signed legislation to fill the “perceived gap in that statute with the provisioning centers and the other businesses that we now know.” Under the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA), the five types of marijuana facilities are “all licensed and regulated by
BY FRANCESCA SAGALA
the state:” growers, processers, provisioning centers, secure transporters, and safety compliance facilities. Proposal 2018-1, which was a statewide ballot initiative that legalized recreational, or adult use, marijuana, was approved by 57% of Michigan voters. The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA) was adopted as a result of the approval of the initiative. After the MRTMA was approved by voters, the New Buffalo City Council adopted an ordinance opting out of all marijuana businesses, which means that no licenses for marijuana businesses can be issued in the city at this time. Municipalities can “adopt opt in ordinances that limit the number of any given business type,” Curcio said. “When this is done, especially on the MRTMA recreational side, the statute says that the ordinance has to provide a way to select among competing applicants using a competitive process,” he said. Curcio said some municipalities have chosen to limit the number of facilities through zoning ordinances, which include spacing regulations and limiting the number of zoning districts where they can be located. Under the 2018 statute, there’s a 10% excise tax on retailers and a portion of the tax is distributed to municipalities that have either adult use retailers or adult use microbusinesses within their communities. Curcio said the disbursement per facility to a municipality in 2021 was about $28,000. During a public hearing, Roger Barbour said he built out a restaurant on his property on South Whittaker Street right as Covid hit. Now, he’s considering doing something different with the property, noting that a dispensary “makes a whole lot of sense out there.” He feels that traffic can be regulated
by zoning, as dispensaries could only be allowed “right at the edges of the city” where people could “get marijuana, turn around and head back.” Regarding marijuana sales, he said in 2021, sales were $1.3 billion and the excise tax is 10% of that, which is a 257% increase. “So, if you just do the math, we’re looking at something like $72,000 to the city for having a single dispensary,” he said. Tom Ferrell said his business, The Refinery in Kalamazoo, provides about 25 to 28 full time full paying jobs to locals. He added that they also work with local charities and the city asking, “what they want out of us.”
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ean Callahan said that, while he’s in favor of dispensaries in the city, he believes they should be pushing for the selling of local products and not “just another chain coming in her telling us how it should look.” Jamie Cooper, a licenses and owner of a cannabis lifestyle magazine, said that a study showed that about one in five Michigan residents consume cannabis, with the same amount dealing with chronic pain. She said the marijuana industry has resulted in 33,000 jobs so far having been created in the state. Berrien County Undersheriff Chuck Heit said that he spoke with the police chief in Buchanan and Niles (both of which have dispensaries) and said that one of the biggest issues they must deal with is parking. Heit said that it’s been discovered that people who come into the municipality to visit the dispensary usually pick up their product and leave and don’t stay to shop in the nearby stores. He added that there haven’t “really been law issues” in Buchanan and Niles with regards to having dispensaries there.
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. — Thomas Jefferson
