Politics & Government

On the Agenda: Medical Marijuana and Budget Meetings

The West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees will meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday in Town Hall to discuss a wide range of issues.

The West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees at to discuss issues including an extension of the previously adopted moratorium on medical marijuana and myriad budgetary concerns.

Medical marijuana moratorium

The township board will vote on an emergency ordinance to establish a yearlong extension beginning Sept. 1 on a previously adopted moratorium on medical marijuana facilities, which was approved Nov. 15 to allow Michigan the opportunity to clarify the state Medical Marihuana Act. According to township-approved documents, there has been no published appellate court decision providing guidance to local governments regarding what regulatory approaches are legal or permissible to date.

, voting to confirm a six-month extension on the moratorium from Dec. 31 through June 30. Since the initial approval, Bloomfield Township and South Lyon have gone to Oakland County Circuit Court to defend their ordinances regarding medical marijuana. West Bloomfield Township attorney Gary Dovre said in May that the extension allowed time “if the board wants to revisit the subject of an ordinance amendment before the court decisions are coming back and the Legislature acts.”

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Michigan’s law does not provide or instruct the registered patient how or where to get marijuana, thereby leaving cities and townships to outline ordinances and regulations, which has drawn the ire of the township board. The law serves only as a means to register those patients who have a qualifying illness and are permitted to use, grow, and carry a set amount of marijuana.

The status of the moratorium between June 30 and Sept. 1 is unclear.

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2011 tax levy increase

The 2011 tax levy will more than double from 0.08 to 0.1613 to accommodate for an increase in the Drains-at-Large budget for 2012 by $140,986.45. While the Drains-at-Large fund balance has been used in previous years to keep the levy low, but the fund balance is no longer available to use due to decreasing interest rates.

The reasons given for the levy increase by the township include an assessment in maintenance costs by the Oakland County Water Resources Commission as well as $30,000 of additional costs to the Springwater/Hollyhock project and $75,000 increase in the Donohue Drain project.

The Springwater/Hollyhock project includes the construction of storm drains to correct an existing subdivision drainage problem located in Section 26. The Donohue Drain project will improve an existing watercourse located in parts of Sections 20, 21, 28 and 29.

Public Safety Paths project budget revised

No new Public Safety Paths projects are being scheduled for 2012, but the budget for the projects is being amended to accommodate for a delay in completion of existing projects.

Maintenance costs totaling $40,000 for rehabilitation of paths on 14 Mile Road between Halsted Road and Holborn Trail are being shifted from the 2011 budget to the 2012 budget.

In November 2004, residents had voted to approve a 15-year tax levy up to 0.20 for the construction and maintenance of nonmotorized public safety paths, which are concrete paths designed to serve pedestrians, joggers and bikers.

Projects in Segment 17 of Maple Road, Segment 67 of Farmington Road, Segment 48 of Willow Road and Segments 51-53 of Middlebelt Road, for which $20,000 of closeout costs had been budgeted, will be completed in 2011.

Budget meetings to be scheduled

Interested in hearing about what the township’s budget will look like after the public safety millage election Nov. 8? The township board will consider scheduling budget meetings at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 1, 8 and 15 and a special board meeting at 12:15 p.m. Nov. 10.

Other items

The board will consider an amendment to the noise ordinance, and is expected to approve a health care amendment for the township’s nonunion employees and adopt an ordinance to change how restaurants are classified in the township.


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