By Jim Bloch
The Port Huron City Council held a public hearing on the Special Use Permit request from MS Industries, LLC, for a marijuana retail outlet at 1814 10th Street, where a long-shuttered credit union still stands. But the seven member body could not make a decision.
The council vote 6-1 to postpone making a ruling on the request. Council member Jeff Pemberton voted against the postponement.
The hearing was held at the council’s regular meeting Sept. 9 in response to an August decision by the city’s planning commission to deny the permit, with the apparent intent to reverse the decision.
But council members seemed torn between the arguments of residents in the neighborhood who opposed the marijuana shop and the assertions of City Manager James Freed that turning down the permit would lead to a lawsuit that the city would lose and likely have to pay MS Industries’ legal fees.
Tammy Jones, a resident of Minnie Street, said the property of the proposed retail shop wraps around three sides of her home.
“I do not want it in my backyard, my side yard,” said Jones, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on YouTube. She was concerned about the late-night lighting at the weed store. “I’ve lived in that house since I came home from the hospital in 1969… I don’t want to have to deal with that stuff. I don’t want a marijuana dispensary in my backyard. I don’t see how putting a marijuana dispensary there is going to make my neighborhood better.”
She wondered about the impact of the store on the property value of her house when she and her husband retire and want to sell their house.
“Nobody can tell me it’s not going to drop the property values there,” Jones said. “I think (pot shops) should be in a more commercialized, industrial area.”
Resident Brian Farquhar noted that New Baltimore licensed its retail marijuana outlets for an industrial park.
The attorney for MS Industries said the firm will follow all state, county and city regulations and will improve the property. The store would add at least $59,000 per year to the city’s tax coffers, he said.
“Part of the (planning commission) review is looking at the eight-point criteria to see what the impact might be on surrounding properties,” said David Haynes, the city’s planning director. “This property met all the requirements. It is within the proper distance from schools, daycares, children’s parks. It is one of the locations that is approved and it does hold a license.”
Haynes said that neighbors complained to the planning commission about the potential for increased traffic and the overall negative impact on the neighbor hood.”
The planning commission members voted against the special use permit in a 3-2 vote Aug. 6. Pemberton is a member of the planning commission but missed the meeting. So did two other members.
“But you need to have substantiated information, meaning you have to have a traffic study to know the true impact,” Haynes said. “If there is any impact to the neighborhood, you have to substantiate that. We did not have any of that information. In fact, just the opposite. With the other locations that are currently operational, we haven’t had any complaints come through our office. We haven’t had any issues with traffic.”
After the planning commission denied the permit, the city council is the next level of appeal, said Haynes.
Freed reiterated his comments from the Aug. 12 city council meeting: “Several years ago, the mayor and council were working on drafting an ordinance to legalize recreational marijuana,” which the council adopted, said Freed. “During that same time, an outside group of special interests drafted their own ordinance and brought forth a voter referendum on it.”
Around 70 percent of Port Huron voters endorsed the new ordinance.
“That ordinance usurped ours,” said Freed. “We now have to live by the voter-approved ordinance.”
The council will tackle the issue again on Sept. 23.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com. gmail.com.
