MENOMINEE — The Menominee City Council Wednesday during a special meeting approved an amendment to a marijuana settlement that the mayor says will make it much more difficult for new cannabis dispensaries to come to the city.
The vote was 5-3 with council members Donna Marineau and Bill Plemel, along with Mayor Casey Hoffman voting no. Council member Josh Jones was excused.
“This is one step forward in a larger agreement to provide a lasting peace from the marijuana lawsuits,” Hoffman said following the meeting. “I voted against it. I thought we could have done without it, but it’s not something that will delay our efforts toward reaching a settlement that will make all parties a little bit unhappy.”
The resolution states that RIZE and The Fire Station, two marijuana companies that have been in litigation with the city, claim the settlement agreement constitutes a “de facto” cap on licenses in violation of state law. The council, in the resolution, states the agreement does not constitute such a cap.
The resolution states the city reasonably expects it will be prepared to accept new applications for any additional cannabis stores no later than Oct. 1, 2024, but the council hereby imposes a temporary moratorium on accepting or processing any cannabis license application materials in the meantime so that Council has adequate time to consider potential changes to zoning, if any, and city staff has adequate time to finalize the application forms and put in place rules and regulations governing the process for applications, renewals, transfers, changes of corporate ownership, termination, etc., for marijuana establishments.
The amendment also states the city shall not permit any marijuana business to operate within 200 feet (buffer zone) of any of the plaintiff’s locations.
Hoffman said the next step is to get the council behind a settlement that will expand no-marijuana zones around churches, schools, residential areas and every other location where a child might be present in the city.
“The agreement will effectively leave Menominee as an uncapped marijuana market, but with very few physical locations where you can find a building to set up shop,” he said.
Hoffman said licensing and zoning are the two big powers the municipality has in regulating marijuana stores.
“This agreement is predicated on zoning and the big change that we will notice is increased buffer zones — or no marijuana zones — around anything kids care about and kids and families tend to frequent,” he said. “That is an agreement that I think we will have a majority that will approve in the coming months.”
The mayor said it will be difficult for new marijuana companies to set up shop in the city.
“It will be a Herculean task for those companies,” Hoffman said. “I suspect that the settlement drafts that have been presented to the council will pass in one form or another and that will bring a lasting peace. It will also make it more difficult for a new marijuana company to enter Menominee because they just won’t be able to find a building to operate out of.”
The plaintiffs in the matter and their locations are: NU Group, LLC, 1231 9th Ave.; Attitude Wellness, LLC d/b/a Lume, 2812 10th St.; Highwire Farms, LLC, 1015 10th Ave.; Higher Love Corp. Inc., 1400 8th Ave.; Rocky North, LLC d/b/a Green Pharm U.P., 2121 10th St.; and Agri-Med, LLC, 3109 and 3113 10th St.
Council member Joe Dulak urged the council to support the resolution because the city’s hired attorney, Matt Cross of Cummings, McClorey, Davis, & Acho, supports it.
“This resolution, like the one last year, clarifies the city’s intent,” he said.
Plemel said the council should follow the advice of attorneys.
“This is a negotiated settlement between the attorneys,” he said. “I don’t think changing it without those attorneys sitting here makes any sense. I think we either adopt it as presented to us or we don’t.”
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