KALAMAZOO, MI -- Medical marijuana is back on the table.

Last fall, Kalamazoo postponed a decision on how it plans to react to new state laws governing medical marijuana facilities while it waited for the state to the rules that will govern their operation. After the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs finally made these rules public in December, City Attorney Clyde Robinson began studying how it would affect local ordinances drafted in the fall.

During a Tuesday work session, the City Commission discussed the pros and cons of allowing five types of medical marijuana facilities to open. The city hasn't given marijuana the green light just yet -- changes to its zoning code and code of ordinances will likely come before the commission next month.

Robinson advised commissioners to look at the ordinances thoroughly. There has been a high amount of interest in what Kalamazoo will do, he said.

Lawyers, activists and entrepreneurs in the medical marijuana industry have been calling his office "incessantly" while Kalamazoo decides how it will award permits.

"They won't be afraid to challenge a process if they feel that they were somehow harmed," he said.

Commissioner Jack Urban worried that the commission is acting as though its already decided to allow medical marijuana.

Commissioners agreed that they are exploring the issue, while Robinson said voters showed their support for medical marijuana when the city charter was amended to allow dispensaries in 2012.

Robinson said commissioners wanted to ensure that the ordinances state an expectation that businesses will give jobs to locals and act as responsible community partners.

Kalamazoo's ordinance will likely include language to deal with several problems, including odor, safety/crime concerns and waste disposal.

The Planning Commission recommended that class A and class B growers and processors be placed in M-1 and M-2 zones. Class C growers, who can use up to 1,500 plants, would be restricted to M-2 zoning districts.

Limited manufacturing districts, M-1, are intended to accommodate low-impact manufacturing uses that don't cause a nuisance to neighboring properties in terms of things like traffic, noise, odor and smoke.

General manufacturing districts, M-2, accommodate low, moderate and high-impact industrial uses.

Secure transporter and safety compliance facilities would be allowed in M-1, M-2 and CC zones. Provisioning centers would also be limited to CC zones.

Community commercial districts, CC, are intended to accommodate larger community and regional shopping centers that serve a community-wide market area.

All marijuana facilities would be required to stay 500 feet from any residential district. They would also be required to stay 500 feet away from one another.

Other buffer zones would keep marijuana facilities 1,000 feet from a child care center, place of worship, public recreation facility, youth center, public library or any halfway house, correctional facility or drug rehabilitation center, public or private school, college, university, playground or public housing facility.

All provisioning centers or dispensaries have to stay outside 660 feet of the following intersections of East Cork Street and South Burdick Street, East Cork and Portage Street and West Ransom Street and North Westnedge Avenue.

These areas were identified by the Imagine Kalamazoo 2025 master plan as future areas of commercial and mixed use development.

Robinson noted that while the "jury is still out" on whether there are negative effects that follow medical marijuana dispensaries; some people think of them like party stores instead of pharmacies.

Planners recommended spreading out provisioning centers, Robinson said, to prevent certain neighborhoods from "bearing the brunt" of that kind of business.

Kalamazoo also has to deal with a messy ordinance that allowed "dispensaries," which are legally distinct from provisioning centers allowed under state law.

In 2012, Kalamazoo voters passed a charter amendment that allowed three "medical cannabis dispensaries" to open with regulations.

The citizen-initiated ballot proposal in Kalamazoo passed by nearly a 2-1 margin, but no dispensaries were opened. Gov. Rick Snyder sent a letter to the city disapproving the charter, saying it was inconsistent with state law at the time.