ESCANABA — The future of retail marijuana sales in Escanaba will be decided next month after Escanaba City Council members postponed action on the issue Thursday.

Currently, the retail marijuana establishments are prohibited in the city, but the ordinance that opted the city out of the sales is set to expire in September if no action is taken by the council. While the city can extend the ordinance or opt in to sales at any time, council members expressed they were caught off guard by the issue appearing on Thursday’s agenda.

“We were told ‘let’s not hurry’ and it’s on our agenda. It appears like we weren’t prepared for it,” said Council Member Ron Beauchamp.

According to Beauchamp, an email was sent to the council members last week indicating it would be hurried to put the issue on the agenda, but when the agenda was published Friday, City Manager Patrick Jordan had requested a discussion of marijuana sales be on it. The council members were then sent multiple documents to review — some 50 pages in length — up to only a few hours before the meeting.

Despite the documents, the council lacked key information to move forward. Jordan fell ill prior to the meeting and was unable to lead the discussion, the council members were not given a proposed zoning ordinance related to marijuana sales previously drafted by the city’s planning commission or copies of the current ordinance prohibiting sales, and the agenda packet posted on the city website prior to the meeting did not contain any documents related to the request for discussion or marijuana in general.

Planning and Zoning Administrator Roxanne Spencer told the council she believed the city would need two separate ordinances to allow marijuana sales, the zoning ordinance that has already been drafted outlining where marijuana establishments can be located and a separate ordinance opting-in to the state law, which would set forth the licensing process, fees and how many establishments would be allowed in the city.

“That ordinance has not been drafted, and without a city attorney currently, I’m not sure that would be advisable to draft that,” said Spencer. “It could be started, but I think both of those ordinances need to come together as a package deal once the opt-in … ordinance is drafted.”

The council agreed that Thursday’s meeting was not an appropriate time to discuss the issue, but differed on whether or not a firm deadline was needed for the issue.

“We keep on kicking it down the road. We need to put a date on it. Maybe not the next meeting, but we need to put a date on it to finish this up,” said Council Member Todd Flath.

Ultimately, the council voted to postpone the discussion until the April 7 council meeting. In the meantime, the new council mem

bers will receive copies of the drafted zoning ordinance and the current ordinance opting the city out of marijuana sales. Both ordinances will be included in the April 7 agenda packet available to the public prior to the meeting.

While the council expects members of the public to comment on the issue at the April 7 meeting, all of the public comment made Thursday was in support of retail marijuana sales. Representatives from The Fire Station in Marquette and Laughing Leaf in Munising both spoke about their businesses and the impact of the state law.

Also speaking in favor of opting-in was Kristine Williams, who formerly served on the planning commission and was instrumental in drafting the proposed zoning ordinance.

“We need to stop talking about marijuana as if it’s the 1970s. It’s not. This is a new, emerging market. From marijuana cultivation and processing and manufacturing to safety, transport, delivery and sales, this is a new, emerging, multifaceted market with huge potential to create jobs,” she said.

In other business, the council tabled action on a sidewalk infill plan, which was first presented to the council in March of 2020. The council members wanted to discuss the plan during the upcoming budget sessions to see how it would impact the public works department before approving the plan.

The council also approved a series of expenditures from the water department including a cost of services study for water provided to Wells Township at a cost not to exceed $7,500, lead service line replacement materials in an amount not to exceed $505,000, and fire hydrants and accessories for a cost not to exceed $120,000.