Council members debate whether pottery shop and children’s museum should be neighbors

“It had a lot to do with the look of the marijuana dispensary.”

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Although Michigan’s Flint Children’s Museum needs a new home, city councilors are trying to determine whether it is appropriate to purchase property next to a pottery store.

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According to WNEM, the museum is considering multiple locations, including near the Old Flint Farmer’s Market.

Some councilors have bristled at the place being an option given its proximity to a legal pot shop. “A lot of it had to do with the appearance of the marijuana dispensary,” Flint City Council Speaker Eric Mays reportedly said, commenting on the nature of the debate.

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The museum offers hands-on experiences of all types — including video programs, educational programs, and a venue for birthday parties — for kids ages 2 to 10. As it stands, the website says the museum’s primary location is on the Kettering University campus. .

If the museum moves to the old market, a very close neighbor could be Sozo, a proposed cannabis facility that already appears to be under renovation, according to Flint beat.

The company’s website says the company grows, processes, and sells cannabis through stores. It has a licensed on-site lab where a grow facility produces oils, waxes and cartridges and uses no solvents. Sozo’s current locations are listed as Warren, Cheboygan, and Muskegon, all in Michigan.

Michigan dispensaries, which must first obtain city permission and a license, must be 1,000 feet “from liquor stores, other dispensaries, and drug-free areas, such as schools or daycare centers.” , reports FindLaw.

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Similar rules apply elsewhere, including north of the border.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, for example, notes that a cannabis retail store cannot be located within 150 meters of a school or private school, the distance being measured by a straight line from the nearest point on the property or school boundary to the proposed point of sale. the shop.

Commenting on the museum’s possible proximity to the proposed facility, May says the concerns he hears come not from the museum, but more so from “certain colleagues on the board, who I think need to become a bit more informed on local marijuana ordinances, as well as state law.

Concerns have been raised regarding Sozo’s logo, which incorporates a stylized weed leaf. “In my legal opinion, this needs to go. And so, once it passes, I don’t think the concern would always be the same. WNEM quote May as saying.

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Footage of the old Farmers’ Market shows a facility, which had not yet been given the green light by the city council, with a Sozo sign not far from the possible new location for the children’s museum.

The establishment is under renovation, flint beat reports.

The website cites what Councilman Quincy Murphy noted during a council meeting earlier this month. “I’m going to keep it real,” Murphy reportedly said. “I don’t like to see any marijuana dispensary right next to any children’s museum. It’s just not a good look for me.

City administrator Clyde Edwards told meeting attendees that the city does not currently have rules stating that a cannabis facility cannot operate next to the museum, per Flint beat. “I think you’ll send a terrible message to your business community and to those who invest … if you do something that’s inconsistent with the regulations you have in place regarding marijuana facilities,” Edwards reportedly said.

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Two years ago in Prince George, British Columbia, the city council refused to allow a pottery store to open downtown. MyPrinceGeorgeNow reported at the time, the council received complaints from potential neighbors, including a nonprofit company that provides voluntary counseling to children and young people.

Flint’s situation isn’t the first time cannabis companies have come up against weed rules. Last year, Sozo Health filed a lawsuit against Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the acting director of the state agency that oversees cannabis dispensaries, arguing that the rules of the state were unjust, Chicago Sun-Times reports. The suit was later dropped.

Recreational cannabis is legal in Michigan, although some communities have chosen not to sell. This is not the case in Flint, but the city council must still issue a license for any cannabis facility seeking to open.

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