By Michael Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Pinckney Village Council is seeking final clarifications as they prepare to release the application for marijuana businesses in the village.

Village Council dove into the most recent draft of the application and scoring rubric for marijuana establishments, Monday night. The application period is scheduled to open up on April 1st. In order to qualify for scoring, applicants will need to submit a $5,000 non-refundable check and have a valid special use permit granted by the village. The proposed facility will also have to fall within applicable zoning without the need for rezoning or a variance, on property they have a legal interest in. Each applicant will be graded on a 95-point scale that includes checkmarks for having appropriate licenses, business and safety plans, and their commitment to the community. The Village Clerk will do the scoring. Council discussed setting up a workshop for applicants to help guide them through what will be expected.

Planning Commission Chair Tom Pais joined the meeting and stressed the importance of staying objective with applicants. He said the last thing they can do is discuss the scoring rubric with applicants, how it’s scored, and how you get points. That, he reiterated, will be entirely in the hands of the Village Clerk.

Review dates are being planned with Planning Commission for May and June. Due to the uncertainty of how many people will apply, Council seemed open to considering adding a third date in there, if needed.

They also discussed a minimum score-threshold. The thought behind that is to protect the Village from a situation where there are few applicants who all have low scores. Council President Rebecca Foster said she will seek clarification on whether that is something they can implement.

Consideration for final approval was pushed to Council’s March 8th meeting in order to gain that clarification and clean up clerical errors in the document.