May 23—TRAVERSE CITY — Mediation hasn’t settled a lawsuit from would-be adult-use marijuana retailers challenging Traverse City’s rules and regulations.
Both sides have their own solution: throw it out, the difference being what “it” is.
Traverse City is asking 13th Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power to toss the lawsuit Green Peak Industries, Leoni Wellness, SecureCann and 314 Munson Avenue LLC filed shortly after the city adopted its adult use marijuana licensing rules in mid-2020.
Power granted an injunction against issuing any licenses under a scoring rubric the city adopted to award licenses through a merit-based system, as previously reported.
State law requires such a system if a local government limits the number of licenses. But the rubric contained items that seemed to have little to do with selecting which applicant would best comply with state laws for adult-use marijuana businesses.
Peter Worden, outside counsel for the city, argued there’s no sense in carrying on a legal battle that’s going to result in a rewritten ordinance either way. That’s especially the case now that the city’s ad hoc committee is working again to rewrite the scoring rubric and other parts of the ordinance, he said.
“The judge will ultimately tell us what he feels he’s able to do, but from the city’s perspective, he is not able to just issue them the licenses,” he said.
That argument falls flat for Michael DiLaura, House of Dank chief of corporate operations (House of Dank is the assumed name for SecureCann, records show). He argued the city has been slow to act since Power granted an injunction in late 2020, and said the simplest path forward would be for the city to drop its previous cap of four adult use marijuana retailer licenses.
There’s an economic argument to make for letting the market decide which stores succeed or fail, DiLaura said. Limiting the licenses, on the other hand, would give an artificial value to those licenses and limit competition on prices.
City commissioner Brian McGillivary, a member of the rules rewrite ad hoc, recalled from his teens how certain liquor stores would sell to minors. They did it strictly for the money, he said, and letting the market decide could tempt a marijuana retailer to do the same, even if the majority of them are honest.
DiLaura acknowledged the risk exists, but everyone he knows in the retail side of the industry is honest and wouldn’t risk their license.
The request to drop the cap is likely to fall flat. Commissioners showed no interest in no limits when forming the original rules, and McGillivary said on Friday the debate is more likely to be over the final number, not doing away with it.
It’ll be some time before the rules are ready to go, McGillivary said, as the ad hoc has to decide how to rewrite the rubric, and who will do the tallying.
He brushed aside accusations of feet-dragging, noting the lawsuit’s the reason rules that some retailers were willing to try are on ice.
They’re also rules the city adopted from other local governments.
“We are trying to move as quickly as possible and we’ll meet again in two weeks, but it’s not like it’s the only issue on anybody’s plate,” he said.
DiLaura said the state has been less than helpful in guiding local governments through new legal territory, and said he believes the city’s acting in good faith.
He and other medical marijuana business owners in town are hoping to be selling adult-use marijuana by summer as the medical market shifts.
Power on Monday will consider a motion to consolidate the case with another filed by 314 Munson Avenue LLC.
Recent Comments