COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Coldwater City Council is scheduled to take formal action Monday on an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance which eliminates the separation distance requirements between retail Recreational Marijuana Establishments in both the C-2 Central Business District and the C-4 General Business Districts.
It would open up the establishment of retail recreational marijuana businesses in the downtown area as well as in the area near U.S. 12 and I-69. The ordinance itself was originally adopted in June.
In introducing the amendment on a 7-2 vote, the Council went against a recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission recommended to the City Council on a 6-3 vote that they remove the provision from the ordinance for allowing retail marijuana establishments in the C-2 Central Business District downtown and eliminate the separation requirement between establishments in the C-4 General Business District.
Under the Planning Commission recommendation, retail marijuana facilities would only be allowed in the C-4 zoning district which is in the U.S. 12 and I-69 commercial area.
To protect the City from potential litigation and to better manage staff resources, City Attorney Megan Angell has recommended that the City not implement any form of scoring or ranking criteria for applicants seeking special use approval for marijuana businesses in the City.
A group of citizens has been circulating petitions in an effort to get the downtown marijuana question on the ballot. They noted the difference of opinions between the City Council, the Planning Commission and the Downtown Development Authority. The group feels more information should be obtained and studied to allow Coldwater citizens to make this decision.
A sign was set up in front of the Coach Eby Youth and Family Center last week asking persons to sign the petition and stop “downtown pot shops”.
But it’s far too late to get such a question on the November general election ballot and the first election of 2021 is not scheduled until May.
Proposition One, which legalized recreational marijuana sales on a limited basis as well as its use in private, was approved by Michigan votes in November of 2018. Branch County voters said no to Prop One on a vote of 7,948 to 7,154. But voters in the City of Coldwater voted in favor of Prop One 1,757 to 1,627.
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