KALAMAZOO, MI — The city of Kalamazoo approved new rules to allow cannabis businesses including growers, processors, retailers, consumption lounges and others.
The Kalamazoo City Commission met its self-imposed deadline of June 1 to allow recreational marijuana businesses, approving the ordinances Monday, May 18, at a virtual Kalamazoo City Commission meeting.
The new rules will allow growers, processing facilities, safety compliance facilities, secure transporters, retailers, microbusinesses, excess growers and designated consumption lounges in Kalamazoo.
Before the vote, Commissioner Eric Cunningham made a motion to amend the ordinance to benefit African American residents. City Attorney Clyde Robinson said he appreciates Cunningham’s position, but advised against the commission not adopt it because it makes a classification based on race, and it is unconstitutional.
The amendment failed, with Cunningham and Patrese Griffin voting in favor of it.
The city commission also held a public hearing and received several comments from members of the public before voting. Some were critical in how the city commission is allowing marijuana businesses. Others asked for further restrictions to where the businesses can locate. Some said they were concerned the market could become over-saturated with too many marijuana businesses. One person asked if there would be a limit to how much marijuana people can consume.
The approved ordinances require the businesses to stay a certain distance from schools, daycare centers, public pools, playgrounds and youth centers.
For more information and to see the zoning maps with required spacing buffers, click here.
The city’s current ordinance does not include to licenses related to cannabis events. The approved plan does not allow marijuana businesses in the CCBD (downtown) district, because the city is working to create new zoning designations in that area, according to city officials.
The city lags behind others in the state including Kalamazoo Township, Battle Creek, Bangor, Niles and others, where recreational shops are already open.
Members of the city commission have said they have taken extra time so they could craft an impactful social equity policy.
The approved social equity policy is designed to help people who have been impacted by marijuana related enforcement in the past to enter the now legal industry, and provides some applicants with a discount and other benefits.
The city will charge $5,000 for a license that is renewed annually.
The social equity policy would give a 25% reduction in city license fee for businesses with 51% or more ownership by one or more people residing in city census tracts 1 (Eastside), 9, 10, (Edison), and 2.02, 3 (Northside); or owned by a city resident with a marijuana conviction that does not involve distribution to a minor. The city’s proposed policy would will give a 10% reduction in the license fee for registered primary caregivers, registered for at least two years between 2008 and 2017.
The proposal would designate 25% of fees and tax generated revenue toward programs including:
- A business incubator to help people of color prepare for ownership/operations of future marijuana establishments
- Community outreach and education on topics such as adult use marijuana, difference between state and federal laws concerning marijuana and adult use in general.
- Support Shared Prosperity Kalamazoo priorities (Strong Youth, Strong Families, Good jobs)
- Home ownership - Down payment assistance for those negatively impacted by the war on drugs
- Blight Elimination
The proposed social equity plan also states, “When any person or entity receives more than $10,000 in contract value or benefit from the City, the city will require a good faith effort to hire employees with prior marijuana convictions or that live in Census Tracts 1 (Eastside); 9, 10 (Edison); or 2.02, 3 (Northside).”
The zoning rules include spacing requirements for some of the categories of businesses, requiring some of the businesses to be spaced 500 feet from other marijuana businesses.
The social equity plan would allow more lenient spacing requirements for retailer businesses and mircobusinesses when the majority owner is either a past three-year resident of the specific census tracts in the city, or someone who has been convicted of a marijuana related crime besides distribution to a minor, Christina Anderson said, reducing the spacing requirement between other marijuana businesses from 500 feet down to 250 feet.
The new ordinances go into effect on May 28.
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