HARRISVILLE — The Harrisville City Council on Monday narrowly approved a special-use permit for a second marijuana provisioning center.

The city received a second application for a provisioning center to be opened in the former Moosetale’s custom gift and embroidery shop, located at 108 N. State St. A Louisville, Colorado-based firm, Joint Ventures, plans to open the shop in downtown Harrisville.

Mayor Jeffrey Gehring told the council that the city’s Planning Commission reviewed the application before sending it to the council.

Alderwomen Abby Thomas and Jacquelyn Schwanz voted in support of the special-use permit, while Alderman Jim Kaiser and Alderwoman Kelly Heller voted against it. Gehring broke the tie with his support for the permit.

Alderman Jim Ferguson and Alderwoman Mary Peterson were absent.

The council in August approved a special-use permit for the Southfield-based CAM CLUB to open at a former pasty shop at 303 U.S.-23 N.

Kaiser said he really doesn’t know enough about the business, even with the discussions that occurred with his fellow council members.

“I’ve had a lot of people from my area come to me and say they’re against it, only because they don’t understand it,” he said. “And I can’t really explain it to them, because I don’t really understand it myself that well.”

Heller wanted to know how many applications the council would get.

“I just don’t know,” she said. “As small as we are, how many vendors do we need?”

She also expressed concerns a recreational marijuana user who couldn’t wait until he or she got home might consume the drug while at one of the city’s parks.

“Then that’s going to get out,” she said. “Nobody’s going to want to go to the park. We’ll lose a lot of our campers in the summertime.”

The law approved by voters last year legalizing recreational marijuana prohibits public consumption of the drug.

The law allows local governments to prohibit the commercial sale of the drug within their boundaries.

When Harrisville became the first in Northeast Michigan to allow marijuana businesses, the council did not limit the number of provisioning centers that could open within the city limits. City Clerk Barb Pierce said eight initial applications were given out, but only two of them have been returned so far.

Gehring said that, at some point, if council members feel there’s “too much,” they can limit the businesses.

“I understand your concerns,” he said.

Tom Reif, with Municipal Cannabis Consultants, said the Planning Commission previously discussed whether it wanted to limit the number of permits issued, but commissioners decided to leave it to market forces.

City attorney Dave Cook cautioned council members that, in approving the special-use permit, the issue was determining whether the applicant complied with the city’s ordinance governing marijuana shops. He said the real crux of their opposition was with the ordinance, which they should go back and review.

“You get into potential liability situation when you pass an ordinance that says, ‘Here’s the rules,’ and then you say, ‘Well, you followed the rules, but I’ve changed my mind and I’m going to vote no,'” Cook cautioned. “That’s where you get into potential problems.”

Also on Monday, the council unanimously agreed to amend its ordinances to prohibit businesses where marijuana could be consumed on-site and to prohibit marijuana festivals, both of which would be allowed under recently announced state rules.

Harrisville officials did not want to allow them in the city, yet.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.