Mt Toaker
Member
KALAMAZOO — Chris Chiles says his group, Kalamazoo Coalition for Compassionate Care, has collected 2,751 signatures on petitions seeking support for a ballot measure that would amend Kalamazoo's charter to permit medical marijuana dispensaries in commercial districts.
Kalamazoo City Deputy Clerk Virginia Vander Roest said Chiles needed to turn in 2,567 signatures — 5 percent of the city's registered voters as of Tuesday when the petitions were filed — to appear on a ballot in Kalamazoo.
The clerk's office is in the process of checking the validity of the signatures, which Chiles said he cross-referenced to ensure they had the requisite number.
The proposed ballot language would read, "Shall the Kalamazoo City Charter be amended such that three (3) medical cannabis dispensaries are permitted within the city limits?"
Chiles has said that this proposed addition to the city's charter would stand alongside Kalamazoo zoning ordinance rules that permit medical marijuana dispensaries as home-based businesses.
But he feels those regulations are too restrictive, including that just one caregiver in single dwelling can assist medical marijuana patients who do not live at the home.
The coalition's amendment language describes a medical cannabis dispensary as a business with "one or more registered qualifying patients and registered primary caregivers operating at a fixed location for the purpose of selling cannabis at that location to any persons whose medical use of marihauna is protected under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act."
If the clerk's office certifies the signatures as valid, the petition language then must be reviewed by the state attorney general and governor's offices before it appears as a local ballot question.
Link to article.
Kalamazoo City Deputy Clerk Virginia Vander Roest said Chiles needed to turn in 2,567 signatures — 5 percent of the city's registered voters as of Tuesday when the petitions were filed — to appear on a ballot in Kalamazoo.
The clerk's office is in the process of checking the validity of the signatures, which Chiles said he cross-referenced to ensure they had the requisite number.
The proposed ballot language would read, "Shall the Kalamazoo City Charter be amended such that three (3) medical cannabis dispensaries are permitted within the city limits?"
Chiles has said that this proposed addition to the city's charter would stand alongside Kalamazoo zoning ordinance rules that permit medical marijuana dispensaries as home-based businesses.
But he feels those regulations are too restrictive, including that just one caregiver in single dwelling can assist medical marijuana patients who do not live at the home.
The coalition's amendment language describes a medical cannabis dispensary as a business with "one or more registered qualifying patients and registered primary caregivers operating at a fixed location for the purpose of selling cannabis at that location to any persons whose medical use of marihauna is protected under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act."
If the clerk's office certifies the signatures as valid, the petition language then must be reviewed by the state attorney general and governor's offices before it appears as a local ballot question.
Link to article.
