Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood — The Ironwood Planning Commission expects to complete the site plan and conditional review process for the adult-use marijuana establishment license applications within a month.
At its Thursday meeting the commission 5-0 accepted updated site plans and conditional use permits for CultivateD, LLC, an Ironwood company with plans for a retail location at 326 W. McLeod Ave., and a class C grower and processor marijuana establishment at 1700 Iron King Road. Commissioner Stephanie Hollaoway, and city commission ex-officio member Joseph Cayer were not present.
The CultivateD application was first reviewed in May but the planning commission delayed accepting the retail plan until the city manager and Ironwood Public Safety Department could review proposed parking entrance locations and recommend one with the least potential for traffic safety issues at the three-way intersection of McLeod Avenue, Scott Avenue and Silver Street.
The McLeod Avenue entrance will be closed off and replaced with either the current ownership entrance off Scott Avenue or an alternative entrance, according to Tom Bergman, director of city community development. The alternative entrance, also on Scott Avenue, would require purchasing a small parcel of triangular property from Xcel Energy, Inc.
“After talking to Andrew DiGiorgio (IPSD director) and Scott Erickson (city manager), they agreed that the farther they can get from McLeod on Scott is ideal,” Bergman said.
CultivateD also addressed the remaining questions regarding snow storage and stormwater management questions on the site map, Bergman said.
The planning commission 5-0 delayed acceptance of the site plan and conditional use permits for Free World Farms, another Ironwood company that intends to open a retail marijuana store at 151 E. Cloverland Drive.
Free World Farms is also applying for class B (up to 500 plants) and class C (up to 2,000 plants) grower licenses for a processing facility planned for property leased at 90 Mill St.
The planning commission delayed a review in May for lack of complete application materials and requests for additional information from Free World Farms regarding development of the 50-acre site of the former Ahonen Lumber Mill on Mill Street which includes buildings not in use for 30 years. Bergman said the company provided materials just prior to the June meeting and there was not adequate time for the city to review.
Free World Farms did provide an additional map to discuss stormwater discharge questions on the grow operation, Bergman said. There are still questions about parking and other items have not been looked at yet, he said.
The Ironwood City Commission will attend a combined meeting with the planning commission at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 24, in the Memorial Building auditorium. The in-person meeting will have a virtual option for members who choose not to be present in person.
The purpose of the meeting will be to start the scoring process for applications that have completed the site plan and conditional use process of the planning commission. The scoring system will result in the applicants with the two top scores in each license category, to include the retail, growing and processing licenses that have more applicants than available licenses. The license is also contingent upon approval of state permits and other city requirements.
