MENOMINEE, Mich. (WTAQ-WLUK) — Another marijuana dispensary is ready to open in Menominee, but it’s losing money as it waits for final approval from the city.
Puff filed a lawsuit arguing that its approval was okayed months ago, and the city can’t keep the store from opening.
That is based off an email from the city manager after an application was submitted.
“Two weeks later, we got an approval from the city stating that the application appears to be in order and that we would be approved for a license at this time, and that email would serve as notice of our approval,” said Jennifer Green, an attorney for Puff.
The city says Puff hasn’t been fully compliant, citing a state Department of Transportation request.
“We wouldn’t be here if they would’ve just complied with the city’s reasonable requirements on the ingress/egress. We have the right to request it. It was requested and you didn’t comply,” said Michael Celello, an attorney for the city of Menominee.
Currently, there are eight marijuana dispensaries in Menominee, and a recent vote to amend an ordinance capped the number at nine.
Right now, there are two dispensaries who are at least nearly ready to be open, which would put the number at 10 and exceed the cap.
However, the same judge who overheard Monday’s lawsuit ruled that special election was invalid, so the cap is not enforceable.
“We would love not to issue any more licenses. Because no matter what happens, we’re going to get sued. We issue it to Highwire, this suit might continue, who knows, unless it’s dismissed. We issue to them; we might get sued by Highwire,” said Celello.
Puff acknowledged that Menominee voters overwhelmingly voted to limit the number of dispensaries in the city, but doesn’t believe that the path the city is taking is a good fix.
“The way to solve that problem is not to take an application, approve it, have them do a build out, spend millions of dollars preparing their property and at the eleventh hour, somehow attempt to retract that approval they gave last December,” said Green.
The official vote to amend the ordinance was postponed until the November election, and the city wants to wait until then to make any decisions about issuing licenses.
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