Central Lake settles marijuana lawsuit, shop allowed to open

CENTRAL LAKE — After a brief closed session, during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting of Wednesday, Aug. 11, the Central Lake Village Council voted unanimously to enact an amendment to the village's marijuana ordinance that will allow a local business entrepreneur to open a retail marijuana sales shop in downtown Central Lake. 

The motion to amend the ordinance, which was made by Village Council president Rob Tyler and supported by trustee Michelle Fox, came after another motion was passed unanimously approving a settlement agreement in the lawsuit brought against the Village by Central Lake business entrepreneur Kelly Young under her business name of Graceful Laboratories, and authorizing Bryan Graham, the Village's attorney, to sign a stipulation on behalf of the village dismissing the case. 

The amendment to the village's marijuana ordinance allows for a radial method of measurement of the distance between the marijuana establishment and any pre-existing schools in the village, rather than a straight-line method of measurement, as allowed under the State of Michigan's marijuana law. 

Using the radial distance of measurement, Young's shop is more than 1,000 feet away from Central Lake's public high school/middle school building, as required by the state's statute. Under the former method of measurement, the shop had been 921 feet from the school buildings.

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