LANSING, MI -- Recreational customers may be able to shop for marijuana in Lansing shops within “a matter of days,” Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope says.

The city approved licenses for 11 retail stores, 10 grow permits at six locations, a processor and a transporter. The city ordinance is allowing for a total of 28 retail locations. Eight businesses have recreational marijuana retail applications pending and three were denied.

Swope said eight of 11 approved retail locations are already operating as medical marijuana provisioning centers, so the transition, once signed off on by the state, should be swift, days or weeks.

A prerequisite to obtaining a marijuana business license in Lansing is that the company has already applied for a state license.

The new businesses have committed to nearly $75 million in capital improvements and cosmetic upgrades to buildings, as well as hiring hundreds of new employees to work in grow and processing centers, secure transportation or retail shops, Swope said.

“I think there is a strong market for” recreational marijuana, Swope said. “I think people are excited to see it move forward and I’m happy we can get that $75 million in capital investment into the city and get those jobs rolling.”

Retail applicants expect to hire between six and a dozen employees each, while some of the larger vertically integrated businesses that plan to operate retail locations, grow and processing facilities have projected hiring as many as 200 people, Swope said.

Any businesses that were denied a license will have an opportunity to appeal. The city is using a 100-point scoring system to determine who is awarded recreational licenses. The proposed economic impact, as well as efforts to minimize negative impacts, such as traffic congestion or odor, were given higher scores.

“As of today, the City Clerk’s Office has reviewed 408 applications, conditionally approved 171 applications, and licensed eight medical marijuana provisioning centers, seven medical marijuana grow facilities, one medical marijuana processor and five secure transport operations,” the Clerk’s Office said.

Lansing is charging a $5,000 application fee, which means it’s raised over $2 million that Swope said is being used to cover the cost of the licensing program, including two full-time employees dedicated to application processing.

“My staff did a great job reviewing these applications,” Swope said. "We learned from our previous phases on the medical side and were able to be much more efficient ... "

Lansing through Feb. 26 is continuing to accept applications for medical and recreational processors, transporters and safety compliance labs, as well as micro-business applications for businesses in Lansing’s Second and Fourth wards.

-- Gus Burns is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact him with questions, tips or comments at fburns@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, @GusBurns. Read more from MLive about medical and recreational marijuana.

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