A marijuana business licensing application has been approved in Michigan!
Isis Simpson-Mersha of MLive said on April 16 the Bay City Commission held a meeting where two marijuana licensing applications were on the agenda. She said one of the applications was sent back to the city staff for further investigation and the other was approved.
Simpson-Mersha said the approved application is for a provisioning center, located in a former Long John Silver’s restaurant, at 710 Livingston St., Bay City, Michigan.
Cannabis Compliance and Licensing Attorney Paula Givens said the location on Livingston Street is being described as a “high-end retail medical cannabis business.”
“Our proposed location will be a more pharmaceutical style to honor the medicine,” said Givens.
Scottie Denha, one of the owners of this provisioning center, said the facility is expected to bring in 15-20 jobs. Denha said the owners decided to start their business in Bay City because it was one of the first cities in Michigan to opt into the Medical Marijuana Act.
Bay City has been allowed 25 provisioning centers and this is the first to be approved.
The owners said they are investing $500,000 dollars into the center and plan to completely re-do the building to make it feel brand new.
Denha said there’s a chance they could be in operation by the end of the year.
As for the other application, Commissioner Ed Clements said it wasn’t approved because their building was listed for sale on a website called Michigan Cannabis Brokers of Michigan.
“Something doesn’t add up,” said Clements.
He said seeing their building up for sale was a big red flag, so they are further investigating the application.