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Birmingham Commission Takes No Action On Medical Marijuana Proposal


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Frank Carnovale describes himself as a “fearless father” and a “proud veteran.”

 

He’s certainly no fan of medical marijuana.

 

In a stinging letter to the Birmingham City Commission, Carnovale said allowing medical marijuana grow facilities to operate in the city’s Rail District will turn the east side of Birmingham into a “ghetto.” Carnovale describes himself as a “fearless father” and a “proud veteran.”

 

He’s certainly no fan of medical marijuana.

 

In a stinging letter to the Birmingham City Commission, Carnovale said allowing medical marijuana grow facilities to operate in the city’s Rail District will turn the east side of Birmingham into a “ghetto.”

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Frank Carnovale describes himself as a “fearless father” and a “proud veteran.”

 

He’s certainly no fan of medical marijuana.

 

In a stinging letter to the Birmingham City Commission, Carnovale said allowing medical marijuana grow facilities to operate in the city’s Rail District will turn the east side of Birmingham into a “ghetto.” Carnovale describes himself as a “fearless father” and a “proud veteran.”

 

He’s certainly no fan of medical marijuana.

 

In a stinging letter to the Birmingham City Commission, Carnovale said allowing medical marijuana grow facilities to operate in the city’s Rail District will turn the east side of Birmingham into a “ghetto.

City officials feel their hands are tied.

 

Birmingham, like numerous other municipalities across the state, previously outlawed medical marijuana establishments since they were prohibited by federal law. As a result

 

of recent court rulings, the city can no longer prohibit such establishments as they are expressly permitted under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act passed by the voters in

 

2008.

 

On Monday, the City Commission was planning to set a July 14 public hearing on whether to allow medical marijuana establishments as a permitted use in the Rail District

 

only, with a Special Land Use Permit.

 

(Page 2 of 2)
 

 

Carnovale went on to say he has a friend who recently lost his son to a drug overdose.

 

“We all know a friend or neighbor whose family has fought deadly drugs,” he wrote. “I raised four fabulous children in this community by not compromising my values.”

 

City Attorney Tim Currier said the Rail District makes sense because it’s located by the police shooting range. The DPS building where police fuel their patrol cars also is

 

located in the district.

 

Currier said the grow operations are not retail outlets where a person off the streets can purchase marijuana. They’ll serve as enclosed locked facilities where caregivers can

 

grow marijuana for designated patients.

 

Currier said one caregiver is allowed to have up to five patients, and can grow up to five plants per patient.

 

But rather than act too quickly, the commission hit the brakes and requested the city administration to come back with new public hearing date and more information on

 

proposal.

 

“I think we need to justify this is the right area, versus an area anywhere else in the city,” Nickita said.

 

The commission took no action, however, as a majority of the members wanted more specifics about the proposal before moving it forward.

 

Commissioner Mark Nickita questioned why the Rail District was being considered over other parts of the city. He also wanted to know what the city could do to limit the size

 

 

and scope of grow operations.

 

Commissioner Gordon Rinschler also wondered if residents were actually aware of the ordinance proposal.

 

“This thing seems to be flying under the radar,” he said Monday. “It just seems to me we’re pushing this thing with no deadline or apparent reason.”

 

'A SCAM'

 

The Rail District is located on the east side of Eton Road between Maple and Lincoln. The district is a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses. It has the Big Rock

 

Chophouse to the north and Kenning Park to the south.

 

Carnovale is an architect with offices on Cole Street in the Rail District. In his letter, he describes watching the district grow and blossom over the past 14 years.

 

“Now, with one intentional stroke of zoning discrimination, the city of Birmingham will significantly set the neighborhood on its heels,” he wrote. “This medical marijuana ruse is

 

a scam cooked up by pot heads and college students to get high. The proof is in the extraordinary number of medical marijuana cards issued on college campuses in

 

Michigan for stress and anxiety.”

 

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20140611/NEWS02/306150006/Birmingham-Commission-takes-no-action-medical-marijuana-proposal

Edited by bobandtorey
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Currier said one caregiver is allowed to have up to five patients, and can grow up to five plants per patient.

 

As we can see here they don't like Cannabis nor do they like any that are sick and for someone to hate Cannabis as much as he does you would think he had read to Law better
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I just want to know how all those college kids are getting for stress and anxiety when those are not qualifying conditions.

Not only that but it also said something sbout the plat count that was not right

Currier said one caregiver is allowed to have up to five patients, and can grow up to five plants per patient.

Edited by bobandtorey
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06/13/2014 - The Birmingham City Commission this week requested city staff provide them with more information on permitting medical marijuana growing operations in the Rail District, and the appropriate location to place them, requesting more time to study the facts and look at all potential areas in the city.

The item was pulled from the city commission's consent agenda on Monday, June 9, after a letter from architect Frank Carnovale, whose office is in the Rail District, stated to commissioners that placing medical marijuana growing facilities in the Rail District would turn the area of Birmingham into a "ghetto."

In May, Birmingham planning board members learned from city attorney Tim Currier that the board should consider the zoning change to allow and control medical marijuana establishments as a permitted use in the city due to a recent ruling by the state's highest court. Prior to this request, Birmingham had an ordinance that has prohibited the facilities, as well as medical marijuana dispensaries, anywhere in the city on the grounds that marijuana is considered a controlled substance under federal law.

Medical marijuana was approved by 63 percent of Michigan voters in 2008. Since then, individual municipalities have grappled with how to handle individual rights of medical marijuana patients, the rights of state-approved caregivers, and municipalities which have chosen to give preference to federal law. A Michigan Supreme Court decision in 2013, however, ruled that all Michigan municipalities must follow the provisions relating to the state's Medical Marijuana Act and allow for facilities in their communities.

"If it is allowable in the state, and if our ordinance does not permit it, what happens," a planning board member asked at a recent meeting.

Birmingham Planning Director Jana Ecker responded, "It would end up in litigation. They do not tell us where, but we have to allow it. It could be anywhere (in the city). It is a growing operation. It's not like you as a member of the public can just walk in and buy something off of the shelf. They're permitted a certain number of patients, and a certain number of plants. There's no specific look to the building."

Due to the mixed use permitted in the Rail District, that it's eastern border is the railroad tracks, it has the Birmingham Police Department's shooting range adjacent at Kenning Park, and there is no single family residential in the district, the planning department recommended the district as the preferred area for permitted growing operations.

 

http://www.downtownpublications.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=comm/2014/06/13&-token.story=218471.112113&-token.disearea=2&-nothing&-token.disearea=1

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I expect the commission to tell Carnovale to pound sand. They have no other legitimate response. He doesn't have to worry about all of Birmingham's production going on in the Rail District because the City cannot require patients and caregivers to grow in any location or prohibit them from the same except as spelled out in the MMA. You can look till your eyes ache, but you will not find anything a municipality can use.

Edited by GregS
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I've never seen him, he's not attended the meeting.

Thanks I don't know what he looks like and you do

 

I just remember some really screw ball people stoping inn sometimes like the one about that cannabis Buss siting out side he didn't like it at all

Edited by bobandtorey
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