It didn't take long for Birmingham to decide it's not interested in being the place to buy weed.
The city commission voted at its Nov. 12 meeting to ban establishments selling recreational marijuana within the city's boundaries. The vote came less than a week after voters across the state approved Proposal 1, which would allow for the recreational use and sale of marijuana under state law.
City Manager Joe Valentine said the city's staff has worked on such an ordinance for some time now, expecting Proposal 1 to pass. The city previously covered its opt-out under the law allowing medical marijuana facilities, which was changed in 2016, but another change is needed to opt out of the new law.
"Now, however, with the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, which was recently passed with the recent ballot initiative, communities, if they wish to prohibit marijuana establishments, have to do so by prohibiting it under ordinance," Valentine said. "And what you have before you is an ordinance that does that."
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The commission voted to approve the ordinance change, with Commissioner Andrew Harris casting the lone "no" vote.
With the opt-out, Birmingham joins several communities across Michigan banning facilities from selling recreational marijuana, including Monroe, Cedar Springs and Niles, to name a few. Several of Michigan's public universities, which receive substantial federal funding, have stated they will not allow marijuana on campus, citing federal law that makes marijuana illegal.
The measure passed 56-44 percent statewide, with voters in Birmingham favoring the proposal 7,296 to 4,721, according to unofficial results posted on the Oakland County clerk's website.
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Locally, the city council in Livonia had placed an item on its agenda for its Nov. 19 meeting to discuss the issue, but pulled it several hours after adding it. Officials there say council members are still expected to discuss the issue at a future meeting.
Despite the commission's ban, individuals will still be able to ingest and grow marijuana in their homes for personal use legally under state law.
"I think the key word here is establishment. If a person chooses under the state law to use marijuana in the privacy of their own home or grow it individually but not for resale or any such thing, no business-related activity, that would be permitted, is my understanding under this exception," Commissioner Carroll DeWeese said. "Otherwise, any sale, production, whatever marijuana would be prohibited in our city, correct?"
Valentine said if the city had not changed its ordinance, a business looking to sell marijuana could move forward with little recourse.
"If it was permitted, then it would be governed just like any other establishment coming in for a business license," he said. "If you consider it a retail use, you would be in a situation where you couldn't deny it."
DeWeese said he believed changing the ordinances made sense at this time, given the unknowns surrounding the new law, and will allow to the city to jump back in if it desired to at a later date.
"I think it's a prudent way to go, because if we ever decide it makes sense to change it, we just opt back in," he said. "Right now, we're just saying we're out of it until we decide otherwise."
Contact David Veselenak at dveselenak@hometownlife.com or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.
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