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Township discusses adopting cannabis business ordinance; members set tentative fee plan
Summary
Township officials debated adopting a cannabis-business ordinance that would limit operations to the Highway Business zone, remove a proposed 5-mile radius restriction, and set a lower initial application fee with a higher renewal. Members noted the local applicant has not yet applied for a state license or completed a property purchase.
The chair opened a lengthy discussion on a proposed ordinance to allow cannabis businesses in the township, saying the governing body could "adopt it, Bill, and then later on change that ordinance." Mary Alice, the township clerk, said the land use board attorney recommended removing a 5-mile radius restriction and adding operating hours to the draft ordinance.
Why it matters: The council weighed whether to adopt the ordinance now — which would open the door to future applicants under the ordinance's one-license-per-category rule — or to instead pass a separate resolution of support for a local applicant. Phil Burns, who addressed the panel as Phil Burns, said the applicant had not filed a state license application and had only an oral offer to buy the proposed property, so any urgency to finalize the ordinance depended largely on the applicant's property purchase timeline.
Members debated zoning and public-safety buffers. Several councilors favored replacing the proposed 5-mile radius rule with limits keyed to local zones: allowing cannabis operations in the Highway Business (HB) zone while prohibiting sites within 500 feet of residential zones, churches, public parks and childcare facilities. One member warned that a 5-mile radius could effectively exclude highway business parcels the township wants to preserve for commerce.
Fees and local revenue were a central part of the debate. Officials compared application and registration fees from nearby municipalities and discussed a compromise structure to lower the initial nonrefundable application fee to reduce front-end barriers, with a larger renewal fee later. After discussion, members gravitated toward a $1,000 nonrefundable initial application fee for retail and a $3,000 annual renewal for retail licenses in the draft under consideration; other classes (manufacturing, wholesale, distribution, cultivation) were discussed at different fee levels.
On local revenue treatment, the council noted a separate ordinance already governs a 2% local allocation on sales; that 2% sits in a different local ordinance and would not be rolled into the licensing fee schedule being considered.
Applicant readiness and next steps: Mary Alice told the group the local applicant had not applied to the state for a license and did not yet own the property; Phil Burns said he expected a drafted contract by the end of the week and a signed agreement soon after. Council members outlined two paths: adopt the ordinance as-is tonight and then amend operating hours and other details in a later meeting, or delay adoption until the township has an actual application to support. Several members favored passing the ordinance and then returning next month to amend hours and other specifics.
The meeting did not record a formal vote to adopt the cannabis ordinance; officials said they planned to move forward with adoption and subsequent amendments as needed.
