Niles and Royalton Township add marijuana proposal to the ballot

NILES, Mich.-- The residents of Niles and Royalton township will get to vote on whether marijuana sales will be permitted for expansion to grow and sell marijuana within the township limits.

A resident decided that marijuana sales should be allowed so he proposed an ordinance after receiving the right amount of community support; it ended with 150 out of the 132 required signatures in order to get the proposal on the election ballot.

Steve Tilly, the manager of Royalton Township shares how the proposal made it back to the ballot this year after being denied on the 2018 ballot.

“There’s a loophole in the state-law that says if you collect 5% of the signatures of the last governor's election of the township that he could get the question on the ballot,” said Tilly.

During the last election in 2018, residents voted against the proposal ending with a 60/40 vote, so the state board supported what the residents wanted for their community.

While Michigan legalized the sale of marijuana in 2019, Royalton and Niles prohibit any retail sale or grow operations of cannabis within the township.

Steve Tilly also shared If the ordinance was to pass it would green light the expansion for the sale of recreational cannabis and the state board would need to create a new ordinance to outline the guidelines for what will be allowed.

“After Tuesday then we will find out if it’s no then there’s no change there will still be no marijuana sales in our current ordinance stays in place,” said Tilly “If it’s voted yes, it passes then the township board will have to work with our attorneys to create a new ordinance allowing marijuana sales.”

Residents believe that the new expansion would benefit those who travel through the township just to purchase marijuana in surrounding areas, this way it would be accessible in their community.

Niles, Buchanan and Benton Harbor are a few of many surrounding counties that already have this initiative, and their towns benefit from more jobs and tax money that directly impacts the township given the possibility for change to their neighborhoods.

The city of Niles already has 6 establishments that generate over 354 thousand dollars that will be invested back into their community, this would give the township a chance to generate their own revenue.

If you're a resident of Niles or Royalton Township you can vote this Tuesday against or in support of this proposal on your ballot.

For more information on how the amount of revenue this proposal could bring to your community you can look at the Marijuana Revenues for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.