EAU CLAIRE APPROVES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

EAU CLAIRE – The village of Eau Claire in central Berrien County has become the latest municipality has adopted an ordinance allowing for medical marijuana facilities to operate. Meanwhile, Galien Township will host a workshop on the new state medical marijuana facilities laws in September.
The workshop will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Galien American Legion Post at 344 N. Main St. in Galien. It is being sponsored by Galien Township with assistance from the Michigan State University Extension Service to provide local government officials with the information they need to proceed.
The workshop is designed to give elected officials information on the overall medical marijuana regulatory environment, the new commercial facilities laws, the state’s role in implementation and local government options. People will receive a sample ordinance and learn how to use planning, zoning and other regulatory measures.
Local elected leaders, planning commissioners, administrators, municipal attorneys and professional planners are invited to attend. The cost is $55 for regular registrants and $50 for citizen planners. The registration deadline is Sept. 13 and can be made on the https://events.anr.msu.edu/MMWBerrien17website.
In Eau Claire, village officials have been discussing opting in to the new medical marijuana facilities state laws and then developing new ordinances since the spring. The new state laws allow municipalities to charge an annual fee of up to $5,000 to cover administrative and enforcement costs and regulate where facilities can be located.
Last week’s public hearing was the last of several public meetings the village has held.
Village President Virginia Gonzalez said village residents have had numerous opportunities to comment on the proposed medical marijuana facilities ordinance, but noted that most meetings have been like Monday’s with few people in attendance and no one making comments.
Last week, the council voted first to amend the zoning ordinance to add a section allowing special uses related to medical marijuana facilities located in industrially zoned areas and then to approve the medical marijuana facilities ordinance itself. Both ordinances take effect 20 days after publication.
“I think this is going to be a good decision for us,” Gonzalez said.
The new ordinance developed by Village Attorney Frank DeFrancesco allows one grower license for a faciilty growing not more than 1,500 plants, one processor license, one safety compliance facility license, one secure transporter license and no dispensary license. All operations must be indoors in secure buildings with 24/7 camera monitoring.
Village Trustee Ken Karn made the recommendation for the medical marijuana facilities ordinance approval. “We’ve spent a lot of time on it and it’s ready right now,” he said.
The village already has one business ready to start operating once the state starts issuing licenses at the end of the year. Thomas Wright, Sr. and Thomas Wright, Jr., both of New Buffalo, have formed Michigan THC and are in the process of buying the old 10-acre Silver Mills property on the north side of Main Street.
THC stands for Total Healing Center. The Wrights attended Monday’s meeting and said they plan to hire 10-15 people once their operation is up and running. They said they expect the new jobs to pay between $15 and $20 an hour. As for the operations themselves, they said everything will be enclosed and have 24/7 security and surveillance cameras.
They said they also have plans to operate retail facilities in the cities of Niles and Buchanan which have also passed new ordinances. They have bought property in the Niles industrial park but don’t expect to build there right now. They are also talking to Pipestone Township and the village of Stevensville about the possibility of opening facilities in those locales.
The younger Wright said they technically can’t own the testing and transportation facilities because of conflict of interest concerns but are working to get a testing business to locate in the village.
Another potential medical marijuana entrepreneur attended the meeting and asked to be considered. Ryan Wessendorf lives in Sodus and has also approached the city of Buchanan to locate there. He wants to have a grow facility with 500 plants.
Gonzalez and others on the council said they welcomed his interest but said they are “babystepping” the process right now. “We’re just entertaining and putting things in place right now, we will take your name and information,” she said. “We are going to limit what activity we allow so it doesn’t supercede our abilities.”
She told Wessendorf that the village is not going to allow two growers at this point. She and Karn did say that the ordinance can be amended in the future to allow more if Wessendorf can show he has a viable proposal.
So far this year, the cities of Benton Harbor, Buchanan and Niles as well as Galien Township have opted in to the new laws and are in various stages of making the necessary zoning changes. Other municipalities including the village of Berrien Springs have taken a different stance and stated on the record that they will not be opting in to the new laws.