Manchester could soon become home to marijuana dispensary

Although recreational marijuana is legal in Michigan, many regulations govern its sale and use. Many local governmental units, including Manchester, started by “opting out“ of allowing retail marijuana establishments in individual municipalities. That may be changing. (Shutterstock photo)

by Marsha Chartrand

When medical marijuana became legal in Michigan by votes of the public in 2008, and recreational in 2018, communities across the state needed to make a choice: To allow retail dispensaries in their community, or not?

On both occasions, Manchester Village Council and the surrounding township boards all opted out of the opportunity to have dispensaries in their municipalities at that time.

However, last summer, a young man named Sam Pernick presented the Village office with a petition bearing nearly 100 signatures requesting that an ordinance be put on the ballot to allow village residents to vote whether to allow marijuana dispensaries within the village limits. Whether or not all the signatures were valid, it was an ample number to have the measure placed on the ballot.

The “ordinance“ was pre-written and included many clauses that were not agreeable to village officials. This was discussed at the August 1 Village Council meeting. Manager Michael Sessions contacted Pernick and requested a meeting to determine how they could proceed in a more mutually satisfactory way. The village’s attorney, Fred Lucas, was also consulted to determine a direction for the village. As it turned out, Pernick was willing to withdraw his petition if the village could establish a marijuana overlay district.

Lucas advised Sessions that this would be the best way to proceed, as it could allow the village to determine a location that would be in line with the character of the community; keeping it away from the downtown and the residential sections of the village. When discussed by Planning Commission at its next three meetings, a vacant industrial property on Hogan Road, along the southern edge of the village limit, which had been for sale for more than a decade, was identified as a potential location for the Marijuana Overlay District.

After a Public Hearing before Planning Commission in December, attended by Pernick and one neighboring property owner, the Planning Commission decided to recommend to Village Council at its Dec. 19 meeting that the 11-acre parcel, currently zoned I-2 (General Industrial), be adapted to a Marijuana Overlay District. Pernick was also in attendance via Zoom to answer questions at the Council’s Dec. 19 meeting.

Currently, Pernick’s company, Blue Sky Cannabis Co., has an offer pending on the property, located at 789 Hogan Rd.

Pernick owns one other dispensary in Belleville and plans to open more in the future. If he is successful in obtaining the property and the appropriate permits through the village for a dispensary on Hogan Road, his hope is to open a Blue Sky Cannabis Co. retail outlet by late summer 2023.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.