Several Meridian township residents wrote emails and letters to the joint meeting with the Township and the Planning Commission on March 12 voicing both sides of the medical marijuana issue; these messages were placed in the latest Township Board meeting packet.
Meridian Township resident Marc Santucci in an email supported the zoning ordinances because of the economic impact it would bring him, the township and the country. He also said he lives within one of the zoning ordinances, which would benefit him financially.
Sam Britten, Spartan Newsroom
A word map of Marc Santucci’s email to the board.
In addition to this, at the end of Monday’s board meeting, Clerk Brett Dreyfus noted that East Lansing recently sold some property for $1 million adjacent to Meridian Township. Dreyfus was notably upset by this matter.
“I find something like this to be very unfavorable,” Dreyfus said during the meeting. “The concern was this was going to be a medical marijuana facility.”
Dreyfus also said Meridian Township has had its issues with the governing body of East Lansing. He also made note that some citizens of East Lansing aren’t very happy about that property potentially being a medical marijuana facility.
Tze-Lan Sang of Okemos said in an email that many young people in the community are already addicted to things like porn and video games and adding one more thing to that list might drive the community a little wild.
Some residents sent in letters that talked about how since Lansing already has medical marijuana, that’s enough dispensaries and enough locations for users to get their necessary treatment. They feel that keeping medical marijuana in cities that have it legal is enough to keep everyone satisfied.
Economic Development Corporation Chair Jade Sims said in February at an EDC meeting that Lansing’s approach to medical marijuana wasn’t very ideal and that the smell dispensaries gave off wasn’t very pleasant for the citizens of Lansing. The board did say that it would go forward with introducing medical marijuana to the township, but it wanted to proceed in a better way.
The next Township Board meeting is scheduled for April 9 at 6 p.m. in the Meridian Municipal Building Town Hall room.