City considering more marijuana businesses downtown

NILES, Mich. --- Green Stem Provisioning is one of four permitted dispensaries in Niles, but owners say they're worried this amendment could be too much of a good thing and saturate the market.

“3 years ago it was no way, it was impossible to do that. You can’t do it, but now that’s changed and so we’re trying to understand what the difference is. Why? Why now, can they move downtown?," said George Lynch, President and CEO of Green Stem LLC.

Coming from Detroit, Lynch has seen a booming industry turn into a bust for some.

They have unlimited licenses and they’re already being saturated the markets are completely over saturated. We’re already seeing companies failing. There’s been 2 or 3 major provisioning centers closed because too much competition," said Lynch.

It’s why he opened Green Stem in Niles, where it’s one of only four permitted dispensaries.

The city council is considering an amendment to the city’s exclusion zones to open up downtown for one of Michigan's fastest growing industries.

The goal is to grow the economy. Some residents said they're concerned about growing traffic and parking issues, during a town hall Monday night.

A public forum is in the works to give people more of an opportunity to have their say.

“If the results of the public input is that the council needs to go ahead and consider altering either the exclusion zones and/or the number of provisioning centers in the city then we would then we would continue with those public discussions," said Richard Huff, City Administrator.

Lynch doesn’t want to see Niles rush to cash in, if it means shutting out the businesses already here.

“Everything changes. We all know changes happen, but we’re hoping that it was gonna stay the same for a while, but it looks like it might change," said Lynch.

The city is still working on finalizing a date for the public forum.