Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood — City of Ironwood officials at a public forum on Monday said that revisions to a proposed adult-use marijuana establishment ordinance were revised in part based on input at a previous meeting.
“It’s always positive to have the public come out and provide input in these types of processes,” said Scott Erickson, Ironwood city manager.
The city commission and the planning commission are the ultimate decision makers but feedback from two public sessions was integrated into the ordinance to address some issues that are being brought up, he said.
“There has been a lot of effort put into the ordinance,” Erickson said. “We had a committee that worked on it for about a year with a wide variety of people.”
The committee put something together with good controls in it and something that could be enforced, he said. The planning commission and the city commission have a “good, enforceable document” that guides businesses in doing right, he said.
“Whether or not we end up there we don’t know yet,” Erickson said. “We don’t know if they will be comfortable enough to move forward or not.”
The discussion was officiated by Tom Bergman, director of community development for the city of Ironwood. He said previously that the draft ordinance underwent legal review and would regulate adult-use marijuana establishments that must also be approved through the state of Michigan marijuana manufacturing, testing, transportation and retail licensing process.
Input will be accepted outside the workshops and hearings via email, phone or mail until Feb. 13, he said. The city commission must adopt an ordinance, opt out, or extend the expiration of the current ordinance by the March 31 deadline, he said.
A significant revision to the second draft was the transfer of a micro-business ownership from a franchiser to a franchisee, Bergman said. This is where a franchisee applicant files for the local permit with a local property owner filing for the state permit.
“The old version required 12 months to transfer and that doesn’t work for a franchiser business model,” Bergman said. “So we put that in there where the franchiser would list the franchisee as a co-op to be able to do that.”
Much of the community feedback had to do with the issues of the current growers who operate under previous laws and referendums. These allow home growers for personal or medical use, and medical caregivers for prescription holders to grow without regard to residential or commercial districts.
Bergman said these issues are addressed somewhat through nuisance ordinances and that the commercial ordinance was a different matter regarding adult-use marijuana establishments.
City commissioner Kim Corcoran suggested adding the public library to the 500 foot buffer zone from a pre-existing school, 100 feet from a church or 100 feet from a city park. She said the library is a learning center with children’s programs, she said.
Another resident wanted to ensure that nursing homes were included in buffer zones.
Arlene Szot said that if the intent is to make Ironwood a marijuana destination stop for travelers then the ordinance should place businesses on U.S. 2 and not downtown. She also asked that marijuana particulates in the air be tested as pollution and not as a nuisance.
Other residents said the marijuana taxation formulas are misleading and suspect they would just replace current funding to local governments and schools.
City commissioner Jim Mildren said the pro-and-anti marijuana discussions of Ironwood mirror the state attitudes on adult-use. He complimented the group for its civility and respect for the process in dealing “with change on the horizon.”
“In a lot of ways Ironwood has stayed the same more than other towns,” Mildren said. “We didn’t lose our churches, our businesses downtown and our ability to have good education system. But we’ve had the problem with too much marijuana growing in many locations in the city, and particularly around our homes, which has bothered a number of us.”
Mildren also asked about a possible call for a referendum should the ordinance pass.
Bergman said a referendum question could likely result from either the advocates or opponents but that the language must be in the shape of an ordinance, he said.
Logan Stauber, of Marquette, the owner of the first recreational marijuana licensed provisioning center in the U.P., attended the meeting with interest in the area and as a former student of Gogebic Community College. He said his business experience in the former Negaunee Township firehall has been good.
“We are a small, locally owned entity,” Stauber said.
The Ironwood ordinance should not concern residents regarding growing operations, he said. Growers are attracted to cities that allow more volume and local retailers here will likely purchase from lower Michigan, he said.
The ordinance means that quality marijuana that is verifiably clean of contaminants will devastate the illegal growing competitions, he said. Illegal growers cannot compete with lower costs of legitimate commercial growers, he said.
“If we allow one commercial facility it will bring down the cost so much they couldn’t afford the light bill to grow,” he said. “We would slowly see the home growers die off.”
Jeffrey Barker, an attorney with Barkford Legal in Lansing, was present with two growers who are interested in starting a micro-business in Ironwood. His background in community and economic development drew him marijuana manufacturing as a tool to redevelop smaller communities after law school.
“There is a great conduit for development and investment in Ironwood,” Barker said.
The Ironwood ordinance addresses concerns of odors, public safety and control of products with inspections, he said. With such compliance the companies want to protect themselves and have highly trained staff, he said.
“As an attorney I am really surprised to see so many clients who are willing to jump into such a highly regulated industry,” Barker said.
Barker said there isn’t concern about outside investors coming with stacked licenses with an ordinance allowing few retailer licenses and only two micro-grower licenses. There is some concern that outside retailers in the U.S. and Canadian could influence with big money, he said.
His two clients are from the U.P. and interested in starting a micro-business on Cloverland Drive to grow and process 150 plants for sale to people age 21 and older, he said.
The Ironwood ordinance would allow for two marijuana retailer licenses, two marijuana micro-business licenses and two marijuana processor licenses. A four block downtown “core” area was extended in the second draft to include mostly residential areas toward the Hurley border at Silver Street.
The intent is to encourage more development on portions of McLeod Street, Bergman said.
The official public hearing will be the 5 p.m. Feb. 13 planning commission meeting. The planning commission will either recommend approval of the ordinance or not for the city commission to consider at its March 9 or March 23 regular meetings.
