If having only one marijuana dispensary in Leelanau County bothers you, lobby your township or village to allow more.
Conversely, if you believe attracting dispensaries would cause more substance abuse problems than they’re worth, stay on guard against a change.
The market is that simple, according to insiders in a retracting cannabis industry.
Lately, though, no one has been knocking on township hall doors asking for changes in policy. Steve Patmore is zoning administrator for three townships, including the two townships whose support in 2018 pushed a constitutional amendment allowing recreational marijuana to pass in Leelanau County, 7,174-6,936 or 51%-49%. The measure passed in Michigan with 56% support.
“The townships had the option to opt out, and all three of them did,” Patmore said. “There were so many uncertainties, and they didn’t want to be the first (to approve). Since that time, nobody has come in and asked the townships if they want to reconsider.”
The amendment passed by 145 votes in Suttons Bay Township and a whopping 203 votes in Leelanau Township, which might explain why the only marijuana dispensary in the county can be found in a commercial area off M-201 in northern Northport Village. The Village Council passed a resolution opting into the world of recreational marijuana, a decision that was affirmed several months later in a referendum vote of village residents in November 2020. Leelanau Township’s decision to opt out excluded the village.
One business so far has resulted from a zoning ordinance allowing two dispensaries and one processor to locate in the Northport Village.
Olean’s Dispensary is owned by Daniel Claudill.
“In regard to the cannabis industry currently, because of the tax structure its difficult for smaller companies to be profitable,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of a second marijuana store being located in the village, or even the county, Claudill says “there isn’t enough business for more, to be honest ... If you look at businesses in Traverse City and Kalkaska and a lot of smaller towns downstate ... A lot of those businesses are struggling.”
County Sheriff Mike Borkovich does not support an expansion of marijuana business in Leelanau County, contending that having more drugs available leads to an increase in traffic accidents and societal problems including addiction.
“It’s more accessible now across the board, for kids and adults,” Borkovich said. “I don’t understand the politics of where they (dispensaries) pop up and where they don’t. I’m not in that world. What I do know is a lot of people are driving high.”
Claudill responded, “In a retail store, legally you can’t consume on the premises and (the product) leaves in a closed bag,” he said. “It’s not like a bar or a restaurant where they are consuming alcohol. The people coming into our dispensary, our demographic, is not quote on quote weed culture. The majority of our customers are there to get help with sleep or pain.”
Suttons Bay, which joined Leelanau Township as a major supporter of legalized marijuana, has not fielded requests for a dispensary. And neither has Empire Village, once home to the Sleeping Bear Dunegrass and Blues Festival whose name held a double meaning among marijuana users.
“We haven’t had anybody approach us lately,” reported Empire Village president Sue Palmer. “When it was first coming out the council had a presentation (from a potential business), but we haven’t heard anything since.”
One reason may be delivery programs now offered by dispensaries located in neighboring counties. Lume Cannabis, the largest marijuana retail business in Michigan with a shop in Traverse City, offers free delivery across most of the state.
“The one in Honor is near Empire. It’s probably only 20 minutes,” Palmer said.
But the main reason more dispensaries haven’t looked for homes in Leelanau has been a lack of enthusiasm among public officials combined with declining prices.
So says someone who should know.
Sam Rosinski fought township hall and lost in Solon when trying to build his 42 Degrees marijuana grow business, only to find an open village hall door in Kalkaska. He holds no grudge against Solon, and says he partially owes the success of his brand to being rejected by a community unwilling to embrace a large-scale growing operation.
“Honestly, in hindsight, it worked for the better. We would have pigeon-holed ourselves into a plan that wouldn’t have allowed us to expand as we have,” said Rosinski, who resides in Elmwood Township.
“It’s a place you go to retire, it isn’t a place to transact business,” Rosinski said. “That’s one of the reasons that makes Leelanau Leelanau.”
He had big plans for a production business off Lincoln Road that included a 20,500 square foot marijuana factory. However, opposition formed quickly, and galvanized after the township zoning administrator warned planning commissioners that speaking to the public about the project may violate the state Open Meetings Act. The warning was a fabrication.
Rosinski found success in Kalkaska, where his wholesale operation occupies a 42,000 square foot manufacturing facility and at its peak employed 127 people. His business has facilities in six states.
Rosinski said dispensaries have avoided Leelanau due to a lack of buy-in by elected officials, which is why he moved.
But also contributing are cracks that have formed in the marijuana profit model, which was based on a supply limited first by law enforcement and then anticipated over-regulation. Instead, the rules promulgated to fulfill the state constitutional amendment have encouraged competition, which while benefitting users has resulted in an 80 percent drop in prices.
“It’s the most free market in the United States,” Rosinski said of marijuana sales in Michigan, which recently overtook California to become No. 1 in the nation. “That competition has helped people, and it’s hurt people … we’re now realizing we’re at the end of an engineered scarcity for the commodity. Now that it’s as common as tobacco, there is no scarcity.”
Companies that went all in for what was thought to be a lucrative marijuana market quickly ran into headwinds. Michigan has 650 bars and liquor stores, and all of 630 retail marijuana outlets, Rosinski said. The market is flooded.
Rosinski expects some of the 16 recipients of adult-use cannabis licenses issued in Traverse City to fold. “No longer can you base your future on inflated numbers. You really have to run a savvy business for it to make sense,” Rosinski said.
One such operation is the Dunegrass Company, which recently opened a shop in downtown Traverse City to join seven others across northern Michigan. Chief operations officer Eric Piedmonte — who owns the business with his brother, chief executive officer Nick — said Dunegrass would consider expanding into Leelanau County.
“We would absolutely be interested … I do think there is room for more dispensaries in Leelanau County,” Eric Piedmonte said.
However, he agrees that low retail prices have hurt the industry. “The market itself is tough. Not everybody is in contraction mode right now, but the price compression has had an effect throughout the industry,” Piedmonte said. The brothers are graduates of Traverse City Central.
There is one more possible entrant into the Leelanau cannabis market — the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The GTB in March 2023 opened Beach Fire Cannabis at the Turtle Creek Market, located adjacent to the Turtle Creek Casino and Hotel in Acme Township. The Tribal Council in August 2021 approved a Marijuana Ordinance that would allow cannabis sales on Tribal Land, including Peshawbestown.
“We have nothing new, but it is something we continue to discuss, “ said Tribal Council Chairman David M. Arroyo.
