Kalamazoo Area Township Repeals Medical Pot After Citizen Outcry
Less than a year after they approved it, Kalamazoo County's Ross Township is now repealing their ordinance allowing medical marijuana businesses to set up shop.
The Ross Township Board of Trustees approved Ordinance 205 in November of 2017, which allowed medical marijuana growers, processors, testers, and transporters to open for business in the township. In December, the Planning Commission also began approving the necessary changes to the zoning ordinance to allow pot businesses.
In the months since then, several residents of Ross Township became upset with the knowledge that marijuana growing operations could be set up near their homes. A citizen group called Ross Township for Sustainable Development said that the Board essentially passed the ordinance without making the citizens aware of the issue. They wanted a complete repeal of the ordinance, and it appears they're getting it.
Ross Township resident Nancy McClatcher was at the Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night, and called in to the Live With Renk Show on 95.3 WBCK Wednesday to inform us about what happened.
Nancy says that right after opening the meeting, Township Supervisor Gary Moore made a motion to move discussion on Ordinances 205 and 209 to the beginning of the meeting, and it was approved. The board immediately took a vote, and voted to repeal Ordinance 205, essentially stopping any efforts to open medical marijuana farms on Ross Township.
In order for Ordinance 209 to be repealed, the Zoning Commission needs to make that decision.
Nancy says that the Board then stated they would revisit this issue at some later date, and send out a survey to residents to get their opinions about the possibility of marijuana growing operations in the future. Despite the repeal of the ordinance, Nancy says she feels like "transparency is still an issue", due to the way the board passed the ordinance in the first place.
MLive had reported Tuesday that several businesses had been looking to start medical marijuana growing operations, and were in the application process before the ordinance was repealed.