(a) The City Clerk will accept applications for a license(s) for a Marihuana Business over a fourteen (14) day period, which time period shall be determined by the City Clerk after the effective date of this Chapter. At the end of the fourteen (14) day period, all properly submitted and complete applications shall be subject to examination and review by the City Clerk.
(b) The City Clerk shall review all submitted applications for completeness. If an application is found to be incomplete, it will not be further considered until made complete. The City Clerk shall send a letter to the applicant explaining the omitted information or defect in the application. The applicant shall have two (2) weeks from the date of the letter to correct the defect or provide the required information to the City Clerk. If the correction or additional information is not provided within two (2) weeks of the letter, the application will be deemed abandoned and will no longer be considered.
(c) The City Clerk shall deny any application for any of the following reasons:
(1) The applicant has not been prequalified for a Marihuana Business state license by LARA.
(2) The applicant did not pay the required application fee at the time of submission of the application.
(3) The applicant has not provided satisfactory proof that the applicant has or will have lawful possession of the premises proposed for the location of the Marihuana Business for the period during which the permit will be issued.
(4) The applicant's proposed location is not located in the General Industrial District, Chapter 1286.
(5) That the applicant's proposed location is located in a Drug Free Zone, as defined in MCL 333.7401, et seq.
(6) The applicant has been granted a commercial license or certificate issued by a licensing authority in Michigan or any other jurisdiction concerning medical marihuana or Marihuana that has been denied or not renewed, or is currently restricted suspended or revoked.
(7) The City Clerk determines that the applicant has submitted an application containing false, misleading, or fraudulent information, or who has intentionally omitted pertinent information on the application.
(8) The applicant is delinquent in the payment of any taxes, fees or other charges owed to or collected by the city.
(9) The comprehensive operating plan submitted by the applicant with the application pursuant to this Chapter does not comply with the MMFLA or the MRTMA.
(d) Notice of denial of an application shall be sent to the applicant in writing by mail or electronic mail to the last known address of the applicant on file with the City.
(e) An applicant for any license who has been denied may appeal such denial to the City Council by setting forth all the facts in a written petition and filing the same with the City Clerk within five days after such denial. City Council shall grant a hearing to the applicant, upon the same notice as is required by Section 853.06(d). The decision of Council on such appeal shall be final.
(f) All applications that are not denied as provided in subsection (c) above, and comply with all of the requirements for an application in section 853.05 of this Chapter and the zoning provisions shall be accepted by the City Clerk.
(g) All applications that meet all of the requirements for acceptance of the applications provided in this Chapter will be entered in lottery to determine, at random, which of those applications will be accepted and issued a provisional license and which applications will not. The lottery shall occur at a public meeting to be set by City Council during which time all of the applications that have met the requirements for acceptance have been allocated a place a number, with one (1) being the highest ranking.
(h) Within thirty (30) days of the lottery, applicants will begin to take all necessary steps required by the City to obtain their certificate of occupancy, including, without limitation, meeting all applicable building department and fire department permits, code requirements, and inspection requirements, and obtaining Site Plan approval from the Building Official.
(i) Upon receiving a certificate of occupancy from the City and payment of a $4,000.00 per license, licensing fee, applicants shall receive a permanent Marihuana Business license.
(j) All Marihuana Business licenses shall be effective for one (1) year following its original issuance date. Annual renewal of the license shall follow the process as outlined within this Chapter.
(k) The improvements made pursuant to site plan approval by the Building Department shall be commenced after license approval by the City Council and be completed within one year after the license is issued.
(Res. 2020-253A. Passed 9-8-20.)