Marijuana business site plan reviewed

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Ironwood — Proposed site plans for a marijuana retail store and a separate growing location were reviewed by the Ironwood Planning Commission at a May 6 meeting, along with approving previously reviewed plans for another retail and grow operation that will now move to a competitive scoring phase.

Mark Ryan Satt, one of three partners with CultivateD, LLC, an Ironwood company, presented his site plans for a retail location using an existing building located at 326 W. McLeod Ave., and for a class C grower and processor marijuana establishment at 1700 Iron King Road. The designs were prepared by CS Design & Engineering of Ashland, Wisconsin.

“We are trying to make the best use of the space and to make it aesthetically pleasing with Ironwood, without being intrusive,” Satt said, noting the signage will be minimal and the building designs are subtle, with clean elements and blend in with the environment.

The “P” shaped property has the retail building in the loop and the parking area along the stem at the McLeod Avenue intersections with Scott Avenue and Silver Street. 

Planning Commissioner Scott Bissell said the plan’s entrance on McLeod presents an issue with traffic coming from so many directions. Satt agreed and said he would also prefer that the entrance be from Scott Avenue. 

Satt pointed out other site features including a privacy fence on the northeast section of the property to shield residential areas from the business. He will also have all building waste locked indoors.

Bissell asked about the facade. Satt said the exterior would be wood with exposed brick and glass on the front-facing side and stucco and brick on the back. He described it as a “very clean, subtle exterior.”

In the public comment portion of the meeting, Ben Thompson, who runs a business on Silver Street, spoke in favor of Satt’s plan. He also encouraged the Scott Avenue entrance revision as having the least impact on traffic and encouraged having a marijuana retail store in the downtown business route and not having them all on U.S. 2.

Jake Bailey, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, called from Local 1473 in Janesville, Wisconsin, to support the site plan as the AFL-CIO recognized union representative for the U.S. cannabis industry so far in 16 states. He said that with Michigan as a right-to-work state no employee would be required to join the union and if there is a collective bargaining agreement in place they would still be represented by the contract.

Matt Rodenbeck, owner and head grower of Lost Leaf LLC, a medical grower facility and a class B recreational grower in Baldwin, called to support Satt’s project proposal. He said it would be good to work with the company after having some “bad experiences” with other processors and would be able to use their services.

Satt’s proposed growing and processing facility on the edge of the city industrial park is surrounded by Commerce Street, Easy Street and Iron King Road, according to the site plan. The existing building was owned previously by a cannabidiol (CBD) company that decided not to pursue a project that would manufacture products for sale in Canada, which building became available, he said. 

There is not much work required for the transition to a growing and processing facility, he said. One of the project partners owns an odor control company and the facility will be fitted with the best odor suppression systems. 

The building setting is ideal for the city’s marijuana licensing goals with a large setback and buffers from neighboring properties with room to expand, he said. There are plans to improve the dated facade and he said the company would prefer to generate a revenue stream before applying aesthetic improvements but would comply with the city’s requirements. 

“We would be ready to go in about two months,” Satt said.

In his closing, Satt said he and his partners believe in the industry and that employees can use the skills they learn to transition to agriculture or pharmaceuticals jobs and do not need to consume marijuana to work for his business.

The commission 5-0 approval came with commissioner Mark Silver not present, and ex-officio city commission member Joseph Cayer not present. 

Tom Bergman, director of community development for the city of Ironwood, said that Satt’s revised site plan would be presented with revisions for approval or denial at the next planning commission meeting at 5 p.m. May 20. The commission will also review another combination site plan proposal from Free World Farms for a retail outlet at 151 E. Cloverland Blvd., and class B growing and class C processing establishment at 90 Mill Street.

The planning commission also approved site plans for a previously reviewed proposal from Rize U.P., of Petoskey. The plans and revisions for a marijuana retail outlet at 411 E. Cloverland Drive, and a class C grower marijuana establishment at Commerce Street and Iron King Road in the industrial park were approved and moved on to the competitive process. 

Rize U.P. added a fence on the east side of the property to screen residential homes on that side of the business of the retail outlet, according to Bergman. The snow storage plan was recalculated to increase the green space setback and move trees further back from U.S. 2, and the parking plan was approved by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

“I thank you for the opportunity of possibly joining the community with Rize U.P.,” said Julie Wentworth, CEO of Rize U.P., who attended the virtual meeting. “We look forward to being part of the community if at all possible.”

Bergman said that the city staff are working to complete recommendations for the scoring system to award limited licenses for each type of marijuana business license. He would like to have the planning commission and city commission conduct the ranking in a joint meeting with the city council approval consideration and public hearing process to follow some time in late May or early June.