$20M Medical Marijuana Plant Proposed For Kingsley

An international cannabis corporation hopes to build a $20 million medical marijuana plant in Kingsley – a project officials say could bring 100 new jobs to the village and more than double the downtown district’s taxable value.

TheraCann International Corporation is proposing a 100,000 square-foot growing facility in the Kingsley Industry Park near M113 and US Highway 131 adjacent to the village’s wastewater treatment plant (proposed site outlined in yellow). The company says the “state-of-the-art” facility would house 20 licensed Michigan growers overseen by TheraCann to cultivate, harvest and extract medical marijuana. The company also hopes to open an adjacent 20,000 square-foot processing plant in the park.

TheraCann’s proposal comes on the heels of a trio of laws signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in late 2016 adding new structure and regulations to Michigan’s already legal medical marijuana industry. The new laws tax medical marijuana, require the tracking of plants from “seed to sale,” and establish a licensing system for growing, processing, testing, transporting and selling products.

TheraCann’s proposal calls for growing and processing medical marijuana at the Kingsley facility – and potentially recruiting outside companies to handle testing and transporting from the site. Direct retail sales, however, would be prohibited. Kingsley Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board member Marc McKellar, who lives next to the proposed plant site, says the elimination of retail dispensaries changed his opinion of the project, which has been the subject of multiple public hearings in Kingsley over the last several weeks.

“The threshold for most community support dies at the dispensary center…and that is not part of this proposal,” McKellar says. “It’s a production-only facility. My house will be the closest residential property to this project, so I was a little concerned this would be literally in my backyard. But when I put on my hat as a DDA board member and began researching the law and looking at the economics of the project….my personal position has changed from opposition to cautiously optimistic.”

TheraCann CEO Chris Bolton says the company would hire 20 licensees – new jobs that could be available to unlicensed individuals willing to train and obtain licenses – and likely 1-2 full-time support staff per grower. The plant would also have a site supervisor and administrative and security employees. “We’re getting close to 100 (positions) in a hurry,” Bolton says. Construction of the facility would be “locally sourced,” according to the CEO, who says the high-security plant would feature an extensive surveillance system accessible by area law enforcement.

The proposed facility has a projected taxable value of $9.5 million, according to McKellar. “The Kingsley DDA district has a total taxable value of $6.2 million today,” he says. “It’d be almost $200,000 annually for Kingsley Area Schools, which would make this the largest taxpayer for the school district.” McKellar sees the project as a potential economic boost for the village in the wake of the state’s closure of Pugsley Correctional Facility last year, which eliminated 230 local jobs.

Approximately 40 Kingsley residents came out to discuss TheraCann’s proposal at a Tuesday public hearing. Several residents expressed support for the plans; others raised concerns about a range of issues including potential odors and lights emanating from the plant, rumored federal crackdowns on marijuana industries, and Kingsley’s image or branding as a pot-centric town.

Bolton and Richard Goodman, president of U.S. operations for TheraCann, responded to concerns and answered questions in a Q&A. According to Goodman, unlike traditional “basement grow” operations, TheraCann focuses on a “pharmaceutical grade product that looks like an oil…done the right way, there isn’t even a smell most of the time.” Regarding proposed federal crackdowns, the company noted that President Trump’s administration has stated greater enforcement could occur against recreational marijuana use  – not medical marijuana use.

As for the “social impact” of the project, McKellar says TheraCann’s facility is intended to be non-descript and blend into the industrial park like any other manufacturing plant. He says the prohibition on retail sales should limit concerns about “head shops popping up” or negative community branding. “We’re not going to put up a neon green pot leaf saying this is who we are,” he says. “The state has already made it legal, and other municipalities around us are looking at it seriously. The question is whether we’re going to have the control as a community and reap the tax benefits, or if it goes to somewhere nearby, where it (affects) us but we don’t have the control.”

At least a half-dozen residents Tuesday encouraged DDA board members to speed up project approvals, expressing concern Kingsley would lose the plant if officials unnecessarily delayed the project. McKellar says the DDA board will hold an “up or down vote” on supporting TheraCann’s plans next Wednesday, March 8. If approved, the DDA would then host a joint study session with Kingsley’s planning commission and village council to discuss necessary zoning and ordinance changes to allow the project to proceed. State law gives municipalities broad leeway to set standards for medical marijuana facilities, including the ability to regulate issues such as odors, noise, lights, vibrations and air quality. “We have to adopt an ordinance to dictate what’s allowed…there’s a substantial amount of protection (under the law) for municipalities,” McKellar says.

While the first licenses won’t be available under the new legislation in Michigan until December, TheraCann says it’s ready to hit the ground running if and when Kingsley approves the project. “We’d like to break ground and start construction as soon as possible,” says Goodman. “We want to show that we’re committed.”