Flint, MI—The adoption of Flint’s new marijuana ordinance is “on schedule” after Flint City Council voted to pass the ordinance through for second reading during its Sept. 12, 2022 meeting.
When city council passed Flint’s updated zoning code in July, council members learned that if they did not also adopt a new marijuana ordinance before the code’s Oct. 29, 2022 enactment, it could overwrite the city’s marijuana ordinance altogether.
To avoid that outcome, the city’s Planning and Development Department and council have been working on a tight administrative timeline for the marijuana ordinance’s adoption.
While that timeline originally included a special council meeting to review the ordinance—a meeting which did not occur—Planning Dept. director, Suzanne Wilcox, said she believed the city was still “on schedule” with its timeline after the council’s vote.
“[The special meeting] has been offered as an option to city council,” Wilcox told the Flint Planning Commission at its Sept. 13 meeting, adding that such a meeting could still be called by council if they so chose.
But, Flint City Council President Dennis Pfeiffer confirmed to Flint Beat, that meeting is unlikely.
“Unless there is any substantial changes that the council wants to make in-between, there isn’t a need for a special meeting at this point,” Pfeiffer said.
Because a second reading of the city’s marijuana ordinance cannot occur for at least 15 days after the first reading, said Assistant City Attorney Joanne Gurley, the public hearing, second reading, and adoption of the new marijuana ordinance is expected to be on Flint City Council’s Oct. 10, 2022 agenda.