MORENCI — The Morenci City Council decided unanimously not to change the number of marijuana retail licenses available in the city.
“I personally have not spoken to anybody who’s in favor of adding another license,” said councilor Tess Stiver. She said that’s been the case regardless of where people stand on marijuana use.
At the same time, a proposal to add new types of licensing in the city — specifically, designated consumption establishment licenses and temporary marijuana event licenses — failed to advance.
The discussion at the July 13 council meeting came about because the city’s cannabis ordinance requires the council to review its terms every two years.
The council heard a variety of perspectives before making their decision.
Carolee Hartman, who lives right near the cluster of retailers on the east side of town, talked about the smell of marijuana and things like her young daughter being in the back yard and seeing a man peeing next to his car at one of the dispensaries.
“I see the good and I see the bad there, and I have to see all of it because of where I live,” Hartman said. She also questioned whether the current number of retailers is necessary.
“Do we need five? It’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous,” she said.
Keith Pennington said that although the ship has sailed on the legality of marijuana use, the council should consider the growing amount of research into things like the impact of consumption on working memory.
“Because the brain continues to develop well into the 20s, this is affecting our youth even if they don’t start before they’re legally able to do so,” he said.
Keegan Gendron, public affairs manager for Ascend Wellness, which operates one of the retailers in Morenci, told the council that cannabis businesses are facing intense economic pressures. He said Michigan has some of the strongest competition in the country, and retail prices have dropped 80% since 2021.
“Adding retail licenses in Morenci will only exacerbate those economic concerns,” he said, adding that in 2025, cannabis sales in Michigan declined for the first time since recreational legalization.
At one dispensary per 450 residents, Gendron said, Morenci has one of the highest ratios in the state — compared to one for every 1,600 residents in Traverse City, 7,000 residents in Lansing, and 12,400 residents in Grand Rapids.
Of particular impact in Morenci is the fact that Ohio has now legalized recreational cannabis — and also passed a law against bringing marijuana from other states into Ohio, even when it was purchased legally at a licensed retail. With the loss of customers from Ohio, he said, the local population will not even be enough to support the current five retailers.
Robert Eschirch, representing the Jade Collection dispensary, walked the council through the economics of running a provisioning center and said that while adding a license could bring in another $60,000 in state revenue sharing and license fees in the short run, the long-term result could be pushing dispensaries out of business.
Councilor Jerome Bussell said that “we could easily find ourselves in a situation where we add a license only to see two of our existing providers fail.”
No council member made a motion to change the number of licenses.
A separate question was whether to add consumption establishment licenses and temporary marijuana event licenses to the city’s ordinance.
Bussell made a motion to allow those types of licenses, saying it would change the cannabis buyer’s experience “from a quick transaction to an extended experience.”
“Event licensing promotes massive hospitality potential, drawing regional tourism and turning Morenci’s cannabis overlay district into a legitimate niche destination,” he said.
Mayor Tracy Schell reported that she received a letter from a resident asking the city to imagine events like “Blazing Bingo” and “Puff and Paint” in town.
And resident Heather Potter said cannabis should be treated like alcohol.
“If we can have a social district for alcohol, we should be able to have a smoke lounge downtown,” she said, adding that people who are high tend to cause fewer problems than people who are drunk.
Bussell’s motion failed due to lack of a second.