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Medical marijuana license applications open in Grand Rapids

Applications will be accepted through Friday, March 15.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids continues to develop the medical marijuana industry. City leaders started accepting applications for growers, processors and provisioning centers on Monday, March 4.

Applications will be accepted through Friday, March 15 and will be entered into a drawing on April 12.

This move comes off the heels of the city’s decision to opt into the Medical Marijuana Facility Licensing Act (MMFLA) in late July 2018 and then again after making amendments for January of 2019. 

“We’ve already accepted a few, or at least received a few applications today,” Landon Bartley, Grand Rapids Senior City Planner said.

Bartley said the purpose of the April drawing is to decide the order of consideration by the planning commission, who can give the green light to desired applicants. 

“If someone gets a good draw result on their application, they could get approved much sooner and start getting closer to licensing faster.”

This means the competition is on. Bartley says once one applicant in a given area is approved, other applicants within the same or similar area may have to retract their applications. However, he also shared that by complying with points under the Marijuana Industry Voluntary Equitable Development Agreement (MIVEDA), applicants may have an edge.

“The MIVEDA has up to eight points that are available. Is a certain portion of your company owned by residents? Will you hire so many employees? Will you hire locally? Will you contract or have participation from micro local business enterprises? All of those are ways that you can say ‘yes’ I will do this and could result in a better draw,” Bartley said.

While most application processes look at past experience, Bartley said the planning commission is only interested in how any given land will be used. There will also be a meeting for community members to voice their opinions on possible projects.

“They're going to have a public hearing to have neighbors come in and say ‘How do I feel about this use at this location,” Bartley said.

The city planner added that the meeting will not be a forum to express general views on marijuana.

“What we don't really need is a policy discussion about the merits or pros and cons about marijuana in general. That has kind of passed at this point. That will probably be revisited when and if the city decides to allow recreational use,” Bartley said.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently moved to abolish and replace the Michigan marijuana licensing board, but Bartley said this won't immediately affect the application process. 

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