News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena is in the process of setting up local rules and regulations which would allow two medical marijuana provisioning centers to open in the city. Where the stores open could impact the ability to acquire federally funded grants for improvement projects on buildings such as the old antique mall, shown here on Thursday, or the former Royal Knight Theater, both of which could use some facade work.

ALPENA — Alpena continues to work on establishing rules, regulations, and plans for medical marijuana provisioning centers that may want to open in the city, including downtown.

Thus far, no action has been taken to allow or disallow the businesses.

Should the city move forward, where shops open could impact grant funding for improvement projects, because marijuana is still labeled a Schedule I controlled substance by the federal government.

In May, the Alpena Municipal Council directed city staff to to put together needed ordinances, zoning rules, and plans for council members to consider for possible medical marijuana sales in the city.

Recommendations from the city Planning Commission would allow a maximum of two provisioning centers to operate in the city and downtown, with firm rules on where they can operate.

At a special workshop Monday after the regular council meeting, staff provided an update on the plans, what needs to be done next, and how the city will choose between applicants wanting to open businesses in town.

Alpena Planning and Development Director Adam Poll said the meeting is another step in the process which could eventually lead to medical marijuana shops opening.

“Staff wanted some direction on how these types of facilities will be chosen and be on the same page as council,” Poll said. “In addition, we wanted to be sure we were all on the same page regarding certain buffers and the protected uses we have looked at.”

There city will limit where a medical marijuana shop can open, Poll said, with the Planning Commission recommending prohibiting stores within 1,000 feet of a school or 300 feet from places of worship, daycares, addiction treatment facilities, or parks.

“There was some discussion on these buffers and whether churches and parks should be considered protected uses and what the reasoning behind that was,” Poll said.

Poll said discussions on the buffers will continue at a future meeting to be held early next month.

Earlier this year, the Alpena Downtown Development Authority recommended allowing provisioning centers downtown.

Since then, the DDA and the city has learned that the buildings where marijuana shops are located becomes ineligible for federal grant funding via the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Similar grants have been used downtown to renovate buildings such as Alpena Furniture and Flooring and Mango’s Tequila Bar, and such funds are in use in the ongoing renovations to the former Dry Dock Bar, which will be a new restaurant when work is complete.

There are several other buildings downtown that could benefit from a grant-funded facelift, but, if a marijuana business opens in one, grants are off the table.

“The MEDC has indicated it will not be involved with medical or recreational marijuana facilities,” Poll said. “It is still a violation of federal law, and much of its funding derives from federal sources.”

The DDA district covers some of the old buildings that need updating. DDA Executive Director Anne Gentry said properties such as the former Royal Knight Theater and old antique mall need large improvement projects, for which, more often than not, the owners need help paying.

She said ineligible marijuana businesses would handcuff property owners into having to pay for improvements themselves or letting the buildings continue to deteriorate.

Gentry wouldn’t rule out DDA revisiting its marijuana recommendation to the city council.

“Getting these buildings updated and used is critical, and a lot of the projects that have been or are being done wouldn’t have without that funding,” she said. “We haven’t had any discussion about about the issue at the committee or board levels, but we could revisit it. We just aren’t at this time. This is an unintended consequence of the recommendation, though, because we didn’t find out about it until after.”

Even if DDA were to shift gears, the final say would be up to the Municipal Council.

Councilwoman Cindy Johnson, who has served on the Planning Commission and DDA, said that, because the council hasn’t taken action on the medical marijuana matter, DDA could make a new recommendation if it is apprehensive about having shops downtown.

“We haven’t taken any action on this except to direct staff to look closer at it and come up with a plan,” Johnson said. “If the DDA changes its mind, they can make a new recommendation if it so chooses.”

Poll said there is still work to do in getting a plan finalized, but he is hopeful all of the needed steps will be taken before the end of the year. He added that there is a great deal of interest from people wanting to open medical marijuana shops in Alpena.

He didn’t want to speculate when and where such shops could open, but did say there would be another workshop to further discuss the issue after the next council meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 2.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.