Three local men want to open a medical marijuana dispensary near Exit No. 55 on the U.S.-131 expressway in Watson Township.
Eric Pierce and James Graczyk of Hopkins Township and Matt VanVolkinburg of Martin appeared before the Watson Township Board Thursday evening to outline plans and ask for the board’s blessing.
The three have formed the Circle G Corporation with intentions to open and operate a dispensary near 12th Street and M-222.
Kirk Scharphorn, Jr., township planner from Professional Code Inspections, told board members, “The state is permitting local control (on dispensaries). You have a choice on what you’ll allow and now allow.”
Pierce, a botanist, already a medical marijuana caregiver, said now that Gov. Rick Snyder has signed into law the legalization and regulation of dispensaries, he and his partners have said they want to open a facility at the site, which already is zoned commercial. So the Watson property is almost ideal.
In a prepared statement handed out to the board, the three men said, “It is our mission to become recognized as the leading licensed medicinal marihuana cultivation facility, consistently providing quality, high-value products to our communities we serve. With the purpose of carrying out our vision and promoting the mission of our growing company, we must transcend in cultivating, processing and the transfer of our products.
“Circle G Corporation will continually assess, develop and execute innovative products and technologies to sustain the growing medicinal demand. We acknowledge there is a growing demand for alternative medicine and intend to facilitate the need with safe, well-regulated medicine.”
The three, all of whom now are medical marijuana caregivers, have stressed they will follow state regulations, which include providing tax revenue for county and township coffers.
House Bill 4209 calls for an allocation breakdown is as follows:
- 30% to the State of Michigan
- 30% to Allegan County
- 25% to Watson Township
- 5% to the Michigan State Police
- 5% to the Allegan County Sherriff
- 5% for the Law Enforcement Standards Commission.
The three said they intend to have the building house a cultivation, processing and provisioning center that will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week and comply with all safety regulations to ensure resistance to potential burglaries.
Furthermore, they will insist that all clients have medical marijuana cards in order to obtain the substance.
The prepared statement said, “The provisioning center will serve as the outbound retail outlet for CGC’s final products. This center will be regulated by local ordinances and by the State of Michigan and all products will be taxed. Circle G Corporation will only facilitate clients who are within the guidelines of the law.”
The statement added, “CGC intends to hire locally for not only our projected build-out, but also to staff our facilities long term. We intend to attract and hire the best qualified staff members for our team and will perform comprehensive background checks to properly screen each applicant as the first step in our hiring process. Employment opportunities will include; security, gardening, harvesting, processing, packaging and retail.”
Scharphorn said he has been receining a lot of inquiries about establishing dispensaries because of the new state law. However, the earliest it could go into effect would be sometime around March 2018 because a special panel needs to iron out details.
The three said they plan to grow about 1,500 marijuana plants with a Class C license and hire between 10 and 25 employees.
After the presentation, Watson Township Supervisor Pam Brown said, “I think at this time we’re going to sit back and educate ourselves.”
PHOTO: Because of the new state law permitting marijuana dispensaries, (from left) Matt Van Volkinburg, James Graczyk and Eric Pierce are seeking permission from the Watson Township Board to establish a facility near the U.S.-131 exit at the east edge of the township.