KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI — The Kalamazoo Township Board of Trustees is considering a recommendation to ban recreational marijuana business in town.

The township board is set to hear the issue on first reading at its 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 28, meeting, with a recommendation on the agenda to pass an ordinance that states “Kalamazoo Township does not permit recreational marijuana facilities to operate within the township."

Township Supervisor Dexter Mitchell said officials had a work meeting to discuss what they can and can’t do, with discussions about how regulation and enforcement related to the issue could look in Kalamazoo Township.

“A lot of questions could not be answered," Mitchell said, because the state has not completed and published its own statewide rules.

Anyone who violates the ordinance would be guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined up to $500 per day, the recommendation states.

Kalamazoo Township is taking a proactive stance and “opting out for now,” Mitchell said, while also working with the planning commission to consider what the future of the issue will look like in the township.

Opting out would bar marijuana businesses from locating in the township, Mitchell said, though it would not impact adults using or growing marijuana at their homes, or carrying marijuana outside of their homes.

Mitchell said the township is engaging with marijuana partners in the municipality as they consider the future of recreational marijuana policy.

“It is a partnership,” Mitchell said. “It is a symbiotic dance going on. We just want to know what kind of music we’re dancing to.”

In 2018, Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal that made the adult use of marijuana legal.

Now, cities, townships and other local governments are making decisions on whether or not recreational marijuana businesses will be allowed to operate within their jurisdictions. Some local governments are waiting to learn more about the state’s rules before making a decision on local ordinances, and some have decided to ban marijuana businesses while waiting to get a look at the state’s rules, which have not been released yet.

The city of Portage voted to ban recreational marijuana businesses earlier this year and Kalamazoo City Attorney Clyde Robinson has recommended that the Kalamazoo Board of Commissioners opt out, too. The city government has yet to take action on the recommendation.