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Three Oaks Village Council awards marijuana licenses
Local Government Meetings
New Buffalo Times
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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
Members of the Three Oaks Village Council awarded six marijuana licenses at a special meeting in the upper room of Froehlichs at 19 North Elm Street in Three Oaks Wednesday, Oct. 27. Two retail marijuana licenses were awarded out of a field of 10 candidates. Two marijuana grow licenses and two processing licenses were also awarded.
The village has taken the position of limiting the number of licenses, which, per the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA), requires it to have a competitive selection process “by which to pick when you have more applicants than you do licenses available.”
Village Ordinance #221, “An Ordinance to Amend Ordinance #219-The Village of Three Oaks Regulation of Medical and Adult Use Marihuana Ordinance,” allows licenses for two marijuana retailers, one microbusiness, two processors, three growers (per class), one safety compliance facility and one secure transporter.
Per the village ordinance, the village council was required to conduct their application reviews in public meetings. The previous week, special review and public discussions were held on two evenings that allowed councilmembers to hear presentations on each establishment that’s vying for a license.
In a 7-0 vote, a retail license was awarded to Green Koi. In a 4-3 vote (councilmembers John Kramer, Colleen Newquist, Joe Hinman, and Tyler Ream voted “yes” while councilmembers Becky Thomas, village president Richard Smith and Steve Graziano voted “nay”), a retail license was also awarded to Harbor Country Cannabis (formerly Exclusive Healing).
In a 7-0 vote, councilmembers approved a motion of support for awarding a retail license to Harbor Country Cannabis (since the vote wasn’t unanimous).
The two grower licenses were awarded to Farnan Farms (at 7200 West U.S. Highway 12) and Three Oaks Craft Dispensary (at 6952 West U.S. Highway 12). Both also received the two processing licenses.
The two establishments were the only ones that applied for the grow and processing licenses. Both also were included in the pool of candidates that were seeking a retail one.
Other establishments that were vying for a retail license were Sunset Coast Provisions (also known as Harbor Country Three Oaks LLC); Lume; Bloom Operations, LLC; Oak Flint, LLC; Mellow Valley; and High Profile (QPS Michigan Holdings).
Councilmembers expressed widespread support for Green Koi (which will be located at 6934 West U.S. Highway 12).
Councilmembers who visited its provisioning center in Douglas, Michigan, said they had a great experience there. Community support (owner Dave Setzke is a resident of Three Oaks) and a show of support from local merchants were also reasons that were listed by councilmembers as choosing Green Koi.
Councilmembers also received letters of support from the City of Douglas. Three Oaks will be Green Koi’s third location (in addition to Douglas as well as Cassopolis).
The decision on who to award the remaining marijuana retail license to wasn’t so clear cut, though, as councilmembers had narrowed down the choice of awarding a license to either Harbor Country Cannabis (which will be in a building at 6761 U.S. Highway 12 next to Featherbone) or Sunset Coast Provisions (which had a proposed location at 300 E. Ash Street).
Currently, Harbor Country Cannabis has a growing facility down the road in Galien.
Councilmembers reacted positively to the fact that representatives from the establishment have been regularly attending meetings since the discussion over the licensing process began nearly three years ago, as well as that they seemed to have a good relationship with the Village of Galien.
Harbor Country Cannabis’ process for training retail employees (such as having them work in their cultivation facility) was also mentioned as being one of the establishment’s positive assets.
In public comments at the end of the meeting, Setzke expressed his support for the council’s decision after a “difficult” and “long” process.
“I want to congratulate the other retail that was awarded and the grow and processors - we’re looking forward to the future here in Three Oaks,” he said.
BY FRANCESCA SAGALA