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Mount Clemens commission rejects bid to schedule special meeting on outdoor marijuana growing
Summary
After extended public comment and debate, the commission voted 3–4 against scheduling a special Aug. 23 meeting to revisit allowing outdoor marijuana cultivation, with commissioners divided over neighborhood odor, fairness to applicants and whether the issue had already been decided.
Mayor and commissioners spent more than an hour on public comment and debate over whether to hold a special meeting to revisit rules allowing outdoor marijuana growing. The motion to schedule a special meeting for Aug. 23 — proposed so speakers could make presentations longer than the standard three-minute public-comment limit — failed on a roll-call vote, 3–4.
Supporters of the special meeting, led by Commissioners Hammond and Goodna and a developer who identified himself as Randy Buckman, argued the extra time would let applicants address neighborhood concerns and present technical solutions. Buckman told commissioners his proposal would “bring over 300 jobs” and a multimillion-dollar investment to Mount Clemens and said he had gathered community concerns and potential fixes. He asked the commission for a 10-minute presentation so officials could ask questions and get details on mitigation measures.
Opponents said the commission had already considered and voted on outdoor grow limits and worried that revisiting the question would amount to uneven treatment of applicants. Commissioners who opposed the special meeting noted prior votes and repeatedly raised neighborhood impacts that cannot be fully controlled outdoors, including odor and light. One commissioner said revisiting the item risked appearing to favor a single site; staff emphasized that any two commissioners may place items on the agenda under the city’s rules.
Mr Johnson (staff) explained the requested procedure and the schedule for extended presentations, saying interested presenters must register with the city manager by noon on Aug. 19 and provide advance copies of materials to be posted with the agenda. That procedure would preserve the standard three-minute public-comment period at the start of the meeting and allow scheduled extended presentations later.
The roll-call vote failed, with votes recorded in the transcript as Mayor (yes), Commissioners Goodna (yes) and Hammond (yes) supporting the special meeting; Commissioners Mener, Vorhees, Campbell and Forier opposed it. The commission therefore will not hold the proposed Aug. 23 special session to re-open the outdoor-grow discussion.
What it means: The vote leaves the existing outdoor-grow provisions intact for now and maintains the standard public-comment limits. Supporters may still seek to return the subject to a future agenda under the two-commissioner rule, but opponents characterized further reconsideration as open-ended and unfair to other applicants. The commission did not adopt any new controls or mitigation measures at this meeting.
Next steps: Commissioners and staff said anyone wishing to present further information on outdoor growing should follow the city’s standard agenda-request process; no additional action was scheduled at the meeting.
