Shelby Township has put in place a new set of ordinances in hopes to better regulate how cannabis grow operations and caregivers operate within the township. When medical cannabis became legal, Shelby Township began receiving many resident complaints about odor, noise, power outages and fires.
Last April, the Michigan Supreme Court decided that municipalities can create ordinances that rezone where caregivers can legally grow medical cannabis. Shelby Township can now force grow operations to move out of residential neighborhoods and into industrial zones. Township Attorney Rob Huth helped create the ordinances.
The board’s process to adopt the new ordinances began July 21, 2020, as the township imposed a moratorium to halt new permits for structural modifications to residential properties to facilitate the cultivation of cannabis.
Township Board members, employees, public safety professionals and residents collaborated to outline the community’s new guidelines for medical cannabis caregivers and grow operations, which township Supervisor Rick Stathakis went over during the Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 19.