GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids officials on Thursday approved plans for two more medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

The first proposed dispensary approved Thursday, June 27, by the Grand Rapids Planning Commission is located at 3423 Plainfield Ave. NE, which is just north of I-96.

The second approved is at 2900 Division Ave. S, just north of the Wyoming border.

Green Skies-Healing Tree LLC is the applicant for both. The applications are the third and fourth from Green Skies to go before the planning commission.

The planning commission unanimously denied the first application because, among other reasons, concerns from commissioners that Green Skies made lackluster and last-minute attempts to engage the area’s neighborhood association and that they weren’t prepared to go before the planning commission.

Green Skies’ second application was withdrawn because it failed to meet zoning regulations. The planning commission unanimously approved their third and fourth applications Thursday.

Green Skies has hired Darel Ross, co-owner of Forty Acres Soul Kitchen, to aid in community engagement efforts.

At the planning commission meeting, Ross laid out several initiatives Green Skies is taking up to give back to the community, should their dispensary plans get approved.

Among the promises, Green Skies plans to donate to a community art fund and award a $5,000 scholarship each year to an employee or employee family member that lives in the adjacent neighborhood, Ross said.

The promises hold for each location approved by the planning commission, Ross said. Green Skies has 12 more applications yet to go before the planning commission.

Ross also said Green Skies will release a transparency report each year showing the amount of sales and revenues, as well as the amount given back to the community.

The latest approvals bring the total number of medical marijuana dispensary plans passed by the planning commission to four.

There are about 74 more applications, most of them for dispensaries, that the commission still has to consider.

The order in which applicants go before the commission was determined by a random-draw lottery weighted by an application scorecard.

Going before the commission early is important because once a facility is granted a special use permit, it could void another applicant for being too close, city officials previously said.

Special use permits are granted after an appeals period of 16 days from the commission’s approval. Once a permit is in hand, companies then must obtain a medical marijuana facility operating license from the state before they can open up shop.