UPDATE, 9:54 p.m. Feb. 25: Grand Rapids reverses delay on marijuana applications at its evening commission meeting.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids is further delaying the acceptance of recreational marijuana business applications and is pushing pause on accepting any more medical marijuana applications.

The city commission voted 5-2 Tuesday, Feb. 25, to push back the start of the application process for recreational marijuana six months from the previously set April 20 date. That means the city won’t accept applications until October 2020.

Further, the commissioners placed a six-month moratorium on accepting additional medical marijuana facilities until the existing ordinance can be amended to their satisfaction.

Third Ward City Commissioner Senita Lenear led the charge to slow the process “before it gets further out of hand.”

“We cannot continue to go down this path without making sure we take care of the things in this ordinance that are not yielding us the results we were hoping for," Lenear said. “We did the best we could and now we need to go back and do better now that we know better.”

As of Tuesday, there is one open medical marijuana facility in Grand Rapids. There are another 23 that have been approved, and will not be affected by the moratorium.

The 13 applications waiting to be heard by the planning commission will have to wait until the moratorium is lifted.

City officials planned to vote Tuesday to schedule a public hearing at a later date for the public to weigh-in on proposed amendments submitted by the planning commission related to medical and recreational marijuana. One such proposal is to get rid of the separation distances and waivers for religious institutions, parks and childcare centers.

But Lenear and Commissioner Joe Jones were among the officials who voiced their continued frustrations that the city’s medical marijuana ordinance has not had the desired outcome of allowing local representation into the industry.

Of the city’s 24 accepted medical marijuana applications, less than five have majority local ownership. “Several” have some percentage of local ownership, according to the city.

Lenear called for a nine-month pause, but reduced it to six months at Jones’ request. Other commissioners agreed that more discussion is required about proposed changes to the existing ordinances, but there were disagreements about the moratorium.

Commissioners Kurt Reppart and Jon O’Connor voted in opposition of the motion to delay the application processes. O’Connor said he was concerned about the 13 applicants that have already purchased real estate, spent capital and followed the process laid out by the city and state, only to have the process change on them.

O’Connor also pointed to the city’s booming beer industry as an example of why the city should work faster -- not slower -- to allow micro-business licenses for recreational marijuana in an effort to make it easier to get into the industry. He noted parallels between the two industries and the additional rights and reduced licensing costs associated with seeking a micro-designation, which is an option for recreational marijuana.

“We sit here in ‘Beer City USA’ where there are two classifications of brewers in the state of Michigan,” he said. "There are small brewers and there are brewers. We only have one brewer in Grand Rapids and that’s Founders (Brewing Company); the remaining breweries are licensed as microbreweries.

“We should not discount the importance of the micro-cannabis industry."

City Attorney Anita Hitchcock warned the commission of the “great concerns” related to threats of litigation if the city were to put a delay on accepting more medical marijuana applications. But she received push back.

“I recognize that and those are all of the risks we recognize exist when a moratorium is implemented, and I don’t take that lightly,” Lenear said. “What’s happening in this community, I don’t take that lightly either and something has to be done.”

Lenear said she and other commissioners have talked about their concerns around residents not being able to get into the local marijuana industry for six months. She said something has to be done soon, before there’s no more room for residents to open up facilities.

Commissioner Jones said he wants communities of color, which have historically been marginalized by the criminal justice system in relation to illegal marijuana, to have the opportunity to get involved in the lucrative new industry.

“Here we are in 2020 and there’s significant opportunity because now it’s legalized and prosperity abounds, but it is limited in terms of who gets access to that prosperity based on some requirements that don’t often allow those who have been historically marginalized to tap into those opportunities,” Jones said.

“I suggest we really make it a point to lead in this time. That we are the city that sets an example in the state, in the country, of how to engage in social equity with regards to recreational opportunities.”

Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said she has heard from many residents and organizations that didn’t know proposed changes were coming to the commission, and suggested that the city take more time to educate the community before setting a public hearing to hear their input.

Bliss also asked city staff to bring information back to the commission at a later date, including what other cities are doing with caps on the number of recreational marijuana provisioning centers.

A timeline for future deliberation was not set Tuesday during the commission’s committee of the whole meeting.

Grand Rapids adopted its medical marijuana ordinance in July 2018. It set the order to accept its first applications in April 2019 and the city’s first medical marijuana shop opened its doors on Feb. 7, 2020.

Recreational marijuana sales began in other parts of the state in December 2019, including Muskegon and Ann Arbor. Other West Michigan shops have opened or are expected to open soon in White Cloud, Battle Creek, South Haven and Lowell.

Read more:

First medical marijuana shop opens its doors in Grand Rapids

Pastors urge Grand Rapids city leaders to continue waivers for marijuana shops near churches

‘We’ve been waiting our whole lives for this:' Recreational pot shop opens in West Michigan