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Grand Rapids City Commission approves medical marijuana facilities

Posted at 9:35 PM, Jul 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-24 23:25:18-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Grand Rapids City Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to amend the city's zoning ordinance to allow medical marijuana facilities.

The ordinance would allow up to 53 provisioning centers in the city.  While this is focused on medical pot, there are also provisions in place in case Michigan voters approve recreational marijuana in November.

The adopted ordinance requires that dispensaries are more than 1,000 feet from places like schools, parks, churches, and day care centers.

During a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday afternoon, the commission made several amendments to the proposed medical marijuana zoning plan.  They voted to have a $5,000 annual licensing fee and increased the separation distance between provisioning centers from 1,000 to 2,000 feet.  They also added a 1,000-foot buffer between all facilities from residential zones as measured along the linear street frontage and another 1,000-foot buffer between parks, places of worship and rehabilitation centers. The latter could be waived if consent is provided and the Planning Commission approves it.

In addition to the provisioning center locations, the ordinance would allow up to  83 potential marijuana facility locations, which includes growers and processors.

The new ordinance goes into effect on Nov. 1.  The ordinance plan also includes marijuana micro-businesses, a type of license that would be permitted if recreational pot is adopted into law this November.