Michigan Law Library

Dexter approves medical marijuana zoning regulations for primary caregivers

Dexter medical marijuana caregivers working from their homes will need to get a permit from the village and pay $100 to be able to use and grow medical marijuana for themselves and up to five patients following the approval of a new zoning ordinance Monday night.

The Village Council unanimously approved the regulation, following a public hearing during which no one spoke.

In addition, it’s expected that at its next meeting, the Village Council will extend its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries for a year while keeping track of the pending court cases involving the confusing state law.

Among the new home occupation ordinance stipulations are that primary caregivers must live in a single-family detached dwelling, register with the Michigan Department of Health, and apply and receive a permit from the village.

Village officials said they don't know how many, if any, registered medical marijuana primary caregivers there are in the village.

The regulations add a definition for medical marijuana home occupation and home use “to protect the public health, safety and welfare, mitigate the potential impacts on surrounding properties and persons and that conforms with the policies and requirements of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Acts,” according to the zoning ordinance.

Home occupation medical marijuana is not permitted within 1,000 feet of a public school or public library and all marijuana must be contained in the main building and in an enclosed and locked facility.

Plus, “All necessary building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits shall be obtained for any portion of the residential structure in which electrical wiring, lighting and/or watering devices that support the cultivation, growing or harvesting of marijuana are located.”

If a room is used for cultivation, any lighting that exceeds “usual residential” from 11 a.m.-7 a.m. “shall employ shielding methods” without changing the exterior of the home to “prevent ambient light spillage that may create a distraction for adjacent residential properties.”

Storage of any chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers used for growing the medical marijuana shall be subject to inspection by the fire department.

In addition, home occupation shall not be visible from the street and shall be conducted by appointment only. “Walk-in trade shall be prohibited,” the regulations state.

UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW: Civil Contempt Proceedings in ...

Judge Hoort, of the 8th  Judicial Circuit Court pointed out today that he thought in Michigan folks who are faced with civil contempt for non-support are entitled to court-appointed attorneys. Since I love a challenge, I went to my favorite Internet law library ( TheLaw.net ) and quickly found the Michigan case law supporting his point.

In Mead v Batchelor Apparently, in South Carolina, the FOC doesn’t represent the payee, and the S.C. Court’s idea is that “we aren’t gonna do it for you, scumbag child support scofflaw, because then we’d have to spend money providing counsel for the payee.” At least the S. Ct. decision makes clear that there have to be some alternative measures taken to ensure a modicum of due process.

My question to you is: How do we reconcile this result with the felony non-support statute, MCL 750.165, which does not have inability to pay as a defense?

See Judge Hoort's blog here: http://judgedavidhoort.blogspot.com/

It's not fair when a father has so much money that he's able to not pay his support and get away with it. In my case, my ex-husband remarried someone with a 6-figure salary so he quit working and lives off of her, then had the court lower his support from $642/mo to $79/mo for 2 kids. Absolutely ridiculous the court didn't impute his income like the previous order. There was no change in circumstances. He actually increased his income since the last order. All I see is obvious favoritism towards his pricey lawyer. This is Oakland County. I've lost faith in this "justice system". It doesn't seem to matter if you're breaking the law and not following court orders, it just matters how much money you have to give to lawyers who give to judge's campaigns. So the kids lose in the end and the rich get richer.