MANISTIQUE –The city of Manistique passed an ordinance to allow marijuana dispensaries to operate within the city limits.

On Oct. 15, the Manistique City Council unanimously approved a new zoning ordinance to allow up to three dispensaries in Manistique.

“This has been an ongoing discussion for nine months,” said Manistique City Manager Corey Barr.

According to the ordinance, dispensaries can only operate in a B2 General Business zoned district through an approved conditional use permit.

“The only thing that this ordinance approves is dispensaries. So, there’s no grow operations or transportation operations,” Barr said.

At the meeting, members of the public raised questions as to why the city would promote dispensaries at all but ultimately recognized how many dispensaries were in neighboring communities like Munising and Escanaba. One current dispensary is only five miles outside of the city limits in Manistique.

“We had some members of the public show up. (They) were not totally against it, but definitely not for it either,” he said.

He reiterated that the council, administration, and the public have had an open line of communication regarding the ordinance for the better part of nine months.

The ordinance does not go into effect until 10 days after publication. Barr said the ordinance will be published on Oct. 24, after which companies can submit an application for one of the three available spots for a dispensary within the city limits.

“We’re in the process of developing our application. It will pretty much just based off the state’s guideline, you know, we’re not going to reinvent the wheel there,” Barr explained.