LAINGSBURG — The Laingsburg Planning Commission Monday tabled action on a special use permit and site plan for a proposed marijuana processing and retail establishment at 105 E. Grand River Road, citing the need for more information before making a decision.
The unanimous decision to table the measure followed a short public hearing in which local residents expressed concerns over how odor would be controlled in the space. Land Use Planner Michael Daly-Martin of Preston Community Services also identified several aspects of the application that needed additional clarification, including details surrounding the proposed floor plan, parking, garbage/hazardous waste disposal, exterior lighting and pedestrian circulation.
“There’s a lot of information that isn’t there, how odors are going to be handled, how processing is going to be done,” said Jeff Geasler, chairman of the Planning Commission. “We can’t make a decision until we have all of the information.”
Laingsburg’s marijuana ordinance currently allows two retail licenses, with Local Roots Cannabis, 120 W. Grand River Road, holding one. Chad Buzinski, co-owner of the CBD boutique Nature’s Kyoor in Lansing, has expressed interest in purchasing the vacant Klotz Floors and Cabinetry building at 105 E. Grand River Road, with the intent of opening a second marijuana retail storefront.
The city previously granted a marijuana retail license to a different developer at the site in 2020, though the sale of the building ultimately fell through.
Rosemary Ridsdale, who owns a neighboring business, Rose Villa Retreat, at 115 E. Grand River Road, questioned Monday what measures Buzinski would put in place to contain odors inside the marijuana business, acknowledging her building shares common airspace with the Klotz building.
“If I have to (live) 24/7 next door to a business that isn’t doing anything to contain their odor, that’s going to impact me, my business,” she said. “I just don’t want us to trade one business for another.”
Buzinski acknowledged there’s “a lot of work to be done” at the site, adding odor control is “definitely in the plans.”
“We won’t be doing any smoking or growing of anything in there, but I understand there will still be odors and it’s a concern of ours as much as it is yours,” Buzinski said. “We’re not here to be a thorn in anybody’s side. We want to improve upon what you guys have currently and I would be happy to held accountable if something happened and we weren’t addressing it.”
Monday’s special use permit and site plan review follows the city council’s Oct. 4 vote to reopen the city’s application period for marijuana facility permits indefinitely.
Twenty-seven business operators previously signed a petition opposing a second retail establishment. Hours before the Oct. 4 meeting, a citizen committee, Let the Voters Decide, submitted 60 signatures in an effort to force the issue on the ballot.
State marijuana law allows residents of any municipality to submit petitions to set the number of licenses a city may authorize. If petitions contain at least five percent of the number of registered voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election, the issue automatically goes on the ballot at the next regular election.
Laingsburg’s signatures have been verified, city officials indicated Friday, and a ballot proposal is expected to go before voters in November 2022, given the deadline has already passed for this year’s November election.
That opens up the possibility of a second facility receiving its licensing and opening within the next year before the proposal goes before voters, Clerk/Treasurer Paula Willoughby said earlier this month. It’s unclear what would happen to a second licensed business in the event the ballot measure passed, she said.
Recent Comments