This story was republished with permission from Crain’s Chicago and written by Jan Parr.
When the township of New Buffalo, Michigan, decided to allow recreational marijuana dispensaries in areas surrounding the city, they figured there’d be strong interest.
What they hadn’t banked on was how much.
The township opened the application process for licenses in April 2023 and, as of March 18, received 50 applicants — some partial — with plans to open dispensaries near the Interstate 94 exit and on U.S. 12 south of New Buffalo’s downtown.
“Yes, it took us by surprise,” said Buffalo Township Supervisor Michelle Heit.
In a special emergency meeting on March 14, Heit and other township officials attempted to slow the roll, placing a moratorium on new applicants. It is in effect for at least 12 months and could be extended an additional six months on a board vote. Anyone who had filed a partial application by the March 18 deadline was given until June 3 to complete their applications.
“The Planning Commission wanted to make revisions to the current ordinance while we discuss making changes,” Heit said. Such changes might involve creating buffers between businesses, she said. They could also include a cap on the number of permitted facilities.
She said 27 applicants have preliminary approval.
King of Budz, The Bloomery, Rolling Embers and URB Cannabis dispensaries recently opened off of Exit 1 on Interstate 94 just past the Indiana-Michigan state line.
Joining them on U.S. 12 just across the state line with Indiana, where all cannabis sales are illegal, are JARS Cannabis and Pharmhouse Wellness, which is slated to open in mid-May. JARS is about 50 feet from the Michigan-Indiana border.
Casey Kornoelje, who owns Grand Rapids-based Pharmhouse, said New Buffalo was an easy choice for his second location. He bought the land that his dispensary now sits on even before New Buffalo approved dispensaries.
“It’s close to the Indiana border and metro Chicago. It’s also a lakeshore community with Four Winds Casino, which brings seasonal traffic,” he said.
The township of New Buffalo had a population of 2,455 in 2020; the city had 1,708. That’s a lot of dispensaries per capita, but New Buffalo’s population swells in the summer months with vacationers.
In May 2023, the city of New Buffalo voted to keep the town free of dispensaries.
Excise taxes collected from each dispensary are estimated to be about $59,000 per business annually, Heit said. If, say, 20 dispensaries end up opening, that would mean $1.2 million to the state, which then distributes funds across municipalities. In 2023, Michigan had 751 cannabis retailers reporting more than $3 billion in sales.
New Buffalo is late to the pot party. Since 2019, when Michigan legalized recreational marijuana, five dispensaries have opened in Buchanan, about 20 miles from New Buffalo.
The New Buffalo dispensaries are hoping to grab some of those customers, especially those who live close to the border in Indiana.
Aside from would-be applicants who hadn’t filed their paperwork in time, those no doubt unhappy about the moratorium include property owners on the U.S. 12 corridor displaying “for sale” signs, which also note that the properties are zoned for cannabis businesses.
The moratorium announcement took Kornoelie by surprise. He said the town at first had a “let the free market decide” attitude. That obviously changed. How many dispensaries can the area support? “That’s the million-dollar question,” Kornoelje said. “It all comes down to demand. But I won’t be surprised if 30 are operating within two years.”
