LEONI TWP., MI – Normally stocked with a fire truck and police vehicle, the Leoni Township Hall public safety garages were instead filled with folding chairs and big screen TVs Wednesday night.
The garages were needed for overflow seating for the large crowd attending the Sept. 4 planning commission meeting and panel discussion on whether or not recreational marijuana businesses should be allowed in Leoni Township.
If townships don’t opt out by Dec. 6, they’re automatically opted in.
Six people served as panelists, answering written questions from the audience during the three-hour event. They are:
- Patrick Frakes, chief operating officer of Rair Systems, which has six medical marijuana growing licenses and one processing license in Leoni Township
- Michael Dilaura, from Cannabis Attorneys of Michigan
- Sgt. Steven Stowe, one of two medical marijuana compliance officers for the township
- Guy Conti, the township’s attorney
- Ken Stecker, from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan
- Eldonna Ruddock, township homeowner
Citizens also had the chance to speak, at the end of the meeting. This was the second of two public hearings the planning commission has hosted regarding recreational marijuana.
Chairman John Spencer said he was pleased with the turnout and the cordialness of the crowd. When the township considered medical marijuana, public hearings were poorly attended, he said, partly due to a lack of advertising.
“They were all respectful,” Spencer said of Wednesday’s audience. “They asked questions that made sense. I hope they got the answers they wanted.”
Spencer said the commission will likely decide in October what to recommend to the Board of Trustees – which makes the final decision.
From the questions and comments, Spencer said he believes people aren’t against commercializing recreational marijuana in the township. They just want limitations, he said.
Questions Wednesday surrounded the effects of marijuana and what the laws are for recreational marijuana. It’s up to the township to set zoning regulations and license limits for recreational marijuana – as it did for medical marijuana.
Because Michigan legalized recreational marijuana in 2018, the 3 percent tax on medical marijuana dispensaries is eliminated. But tax revenue shouldn’t be looked at as the biggest reward for townships, Dilaura said.
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“Tax revenue is a small part of all this,” Dilaura said. “When you have more economic development coming into your town, it throws off more money at the gas station, at the restaurants.”
Frakes has already invested $11 million into his medical marijuana facility in the township. As his family is active in the schools, Frakes wants his business to emphasize marijuana is bad for children and that anybody under the influence should not drive.
“We have a history of telling kids to stay off marijuana,” Frakes said. “And that’s something we’ll be promoting in our business and our website – the importance for kids to understand how it damages the developing brain.”
Nearly 55 percent of Leoni Township voters said yes to recreational marijuana in the November 2018 election. But that doesn’t mean they want the businesses to open in their town, Ruddock said.
“I voted yes for recreational use. I don’t think any adult should go to jail for use and possession,” Ruddock said. “That does not mean that I voted yes for an unlimited number of licenses located anywhere in Leoni Township. There is a big difference.”
There’s been no noticeable increase in crime near township medical marijuana facilities, Leoni Township Compliance Officer Sgt. Steve Stowe said. There have been odor complaints, but Stowe said the businesses fixed the problems.
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