NEGAUNEE — An agreement between the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and Negaunee Township will see the former Marquette County Airport building find a new use as a marijuana grow facility.

On May 10 the Negaunee Township Planning Committee held a public hearing on the KBIC’s application to turn the abandoned 40,000 square-foot complex into a growing operation, which the group hopes to sell to local Upper Peninsula dispensaries.During the meeting, the KBIC presented an in-depth plan, which it refers to as “phase one” of the long-term vision of the operation. The proposal includes several detailed plans, including floor, business, security and operation plans. The first portion of “phase one” includes operating with a single growing license, but indicates that it would expand to the maximum number allowable by the township, which is 15. The township currently has issued two.

The planning commission voted unanimously to approve the KBIC proposal.

“The property sat vacant for last 20-plus years. The application that was submitted conforms to the requirements that are laid out from the township, both for zoning and for conditional use. As well as the standards in the marijuana ordinances,” said Negaunee Township Manager Nick Leach. “The standards were met, so the application was approved accordingly. We’re looking forward to working with KBIC over the next year or so as they move forward in the process of getting water back in the building and going through the state application process.”

While the first phase of the project is strictly for a grow facility, the plan submitted to the planning commission indicates that the KBIC hopes to add a processing facility to the complex at some point in the future.

The facility application was submitted by Frostbite Management LLC. Frostbite manages the KBIC provisioning center in Marquette Township.

Negaunee Township ordinances require that proposals must meet a certain set of standards. In those standards, Frostbite Management says that it plans to “update this blighted building into a state-of-the-art facility that we will be proud of,” and that “The improvements we do to this facility will greatly increase its value and our tax base.”

The KBIC proposal also features an in-depth marketing plan. The plan includes email marketing, advertising and articles in marijuana industry magazines, business and industry conferences and website developments that focus on search engine optimization.

The former Marquette County Airport has sat vacant since 1999 after the area’s airport operations moved to the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Gwinn.