Recreational marijuana sales may go to ballot in Kinderhook Twp.
KINDERHOOK TWP. — An October letter taken as a threat to file a petition to allow marijuana sales in Kinderhook Township brought a reaction from Township Supervisor Wayne Barnes.
"Bring it on," he said at the township meeting Monday night.
Ypsilanti attorney Anderson Grandstaff wrote to Barnes in an October letter to inform the township he had clients intended to circulate a petition to place on the November 2024 ballot an initiative to require recreational marijuana sales for two licenses.
The petition included a model ordinance.
The Nov. 6 response letter from township attorney Chuck Lillis said, “Kinderhook Township is committed to the democratic process, and recognizes all citizens have a right to initiate a ballot question.”
Granderstaff offered “in the spirit of cooperation” to negotiate with the township using the proposed ordinance as a model or “something substantially similar.”
The suggested ordinance establishes a regulatory framework for reviewing, ranking, and scoring all applications for the two allowed businesses.
Lillis wrote the township is not interested in negotiating over repeal of the current ordinance that bans all marijuana sales.
Barns was concerned residents in the township would vote in favor now that Coldwater, Quincy village, and California Township approved licenses with no negative impacts and excise tax revenues coming to the county and those local governments.
Kinderhook voters rejected the November 2018 Proposition 1, the ballot proposal that legalized recreational marijuana, by 306 to 376.
Branch County voters rejected the proposal by 7,154 to 7,948. Legalization passed statewide by 56%.
Lillis wrote, “Certainly the citizens of the township have a right to have a voice in their government and if they choose to support the initiative, that is their democratic privilege.”
The group proposing the ballot initiative needs only 8% of voters in the township who voted in the 2022 race for governor to sign the petition.
That means 61 signatures of registered township voters would put the issue on the ballot.
Lillis noted just nine miles north off I-69, there are currently 11 licenses operating in Coldwater, with three more in Quincy.
Some dealers hope to intercept the Indiana market by establishing businesses near the Copeland Road I-69 interchange at mile marker 3.
California Township last year authorized one license on Fremont Road, less than two miles from the state line and four miles from Fremont, Indiana.
California Cannabis Company is waiting for final approval from the Cannabis Regulatory Authority to open its doors.
California Township Supervisor Sheila Alley said the owners “came to us and asked us. The revenue you can get from the dispensary seemed like a good deal for the township.”
Last February, the state gave each local jurisdiction $51,841 per license for its share of the state excise taxes collected through September 30, 2021.
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The money is pooled statewide and divided per license to each municipal jurisdiction and county where a license is located.
Kinderhook Township will wait now to see what action Grandstaff and his clients will take with the petition.
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Recreational marijuana sales may go to ballot in Kinderhook Twp.
