Berkley Moving Forward With Medical Marijuana Ordinance

[Wild Bill]

Berkley moving forward with medical marijuana ordinance

By Jeremy Selweski

C & G Staff Writer

 

BERKLEY — The City Council plans to adopt a new ordinance within the next couple of months that would prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries from opening in the city, but allow patients in Berkley to use and grow the drug at home for medical purposes.

 

In a work session on March 7, the council addressed the topic and reached a consensus that the city should move forward rather than adopt another moratorium. The council originally passed a six-month moratorium in May 2010, then voted in October to extend it by another six months.

 

“This council has spent many hours discussing this issue,” said Mayor Marilyn Stephan. “We passed a moratorium hoping that the Michigan Legislature would address the issue; they didn’t. We passed a second moratorium hoping that maybe some municipality would create an ordinance that would work and would not provide great risk to the city. But that didn’t happen either. … This law is like a piece of Swiss cheese; it is full of holes.”

 

City Attorney Dale Schneider explained that the council has four basic options to choose from:

 

• Amend the city’s code of ordinances to prohibit medical marijuana completely.

 

• Amend the code of ordinances to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries within the city.

 

• Amend the city’s zoning ordinance to allow dispensaries in some restricted areas of the city, specifically along Woodward Avenue.

 

• Extend the current moratorium by another six months.

 

The main concern of city officials was that Berkley could face potential litigation no matter which option the council decides to pursue. As Schneider pointed out, the city of Royal Oak was hit with two lawsuits by residents almost immediately after its medical marijuana ordinance — which restricts medical marijuana in the city to only personal use by patients and bans growth of the drug entirely — took effect on Feb. 7. One of the suits was withdrawn, however, when the plaintiff was charged with seven felonies after his home was raided by the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team.

 

“This is such a new area (of the law) that nobody has dealt with it before,” Schneider told the council. “It’s still kind of a waiting game. We’re all waiting to find that perfect ordinance that somebody has passed, but there’s still too much uncertainty at this time for me to give you a definitive answer. I think that with all of the options here, we could still get sued. … I wish I could give you more guidance, but I don’t have a crystal ball.”

 

Stephan placed most of the blame for the current predicament that cities across the state are facing on the Michigan Legislature, which so far has not taken any action on the matter. She added that keeping Berkley out of litigation is her biggest priority.

 

“We could risk being sued,” she said, “but as mayor of the city of Berkley, I am not willing to take that risk. … As a member of the City Council in the year 2000, we spent nearly $500,000 on a lawsuit regarding the manner by which water and sewer bills were designed. We couldn’t afford the lawsuit then, and we can’t afford one now.”

 

Other local cities are handling the medical marijuana issue in various ways. Ferndale has remained largely silent since medical marijuana dispensary Clinical Relief was raided by the NET Team in August 2010, just two days after the City Council amended three city zoning ordinances to allow medical marijuana businesses in some areas of Ferndale. A preliminary exam for nine Clinical Relief employees was held in November, but at press time, Ferndale 43rd District Court Judge Joe Longo had not yet issued a ruling on the case.

 

In January 2010, Huntington Woods passed an ordinance allowing for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city’s business district. However, as City Manager Alex Allie explained, the city later adopted a moratorium so that city officials could study the ramifications of allowing commercial medical marijuana use. In April, the Planning Commission hopes to bring forth a new ordinance that would allow dispensaries to operate with a special land use permit.

 

Pleasant Ridge, meanwhile, has not yet introduced any medical marijuana ordinances, according to City Manager Sherry Ball. Instead, on Feb. 15, the City Commission voted unanimously to extend its existing six-month moratorium by an additional 180 days.

 

In Berkley, most city officials favored Schneider’s second proposed option. Councilman Dan Benton was outspoken in his opinion that medical marijuana dispensaries and large grow areas should not be allowed in the city.

 

“I would rather be sued than vote for something that allows for dispensaries,” he said bluntly. “My question is, why is the state law silent on dispensaries? … How I would like that question to be answered is, that it’s up to local control. If something on the state level is silent, then to me, we have local control over it. I think we have a legal basis for not having dispensaries (in Berkley).”

 

Councilman Dan Terbrack agreed. “The law that residents voted on talked about the use of medical marijuana for medical purposes; it didn’t say anything about dispensaries,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why we need to have a dispensary in Berkley. … There are many types of establishments that we don’t have in our city because we don’t want them here. I don’t see us getting sued for them all the time. … That’s our right as residents of Berkley to decide what kind of businesses we want in our city.”

 

Not all council members were in favor of banning medical marijuana businesses, however. “I don’t believe that a dispensary will be the downfall of Berkley,” said Councilwoman Lisa Platt Auensen. “I won’t support anything that prohibits them. I know I’m in the minority, but I wanted to at least give everybody the benefit of knowing where I stand.”

 

The council ultimately elected to proceed with an ordinance proposed by City Planner Amy Vansen, who suggested allowing Berkley residents to use and grow medical marijuana at home, but prohibiting any businesses that are in violation of federal law from operating in the city.

 

“That way,” she said, “anything that comes along in the future that violates federal law would already be in violation of our ordinance. … I was trying to treat (the ordinance) equally for anything else that might come up so that we are not singling anybody out.”

 

In a subsequent interview, Schneider said that he plans to bring the completed ordinance before the council in April, one month before the current moratorium is set to expire.

 

“It’s really sad that each individual city is being forced to handle this (issue) on their own in this fashion,” he said. “It should be done at the state level, and it should be uniform for everyone. This is a real shame.”

 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jSelweski@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5004.