“I’ve always been about making Kingsley stronger and I see this as a way to do that.”
A company that wants to build a medical marijuana factory in Northern Michigan got a big show of support on Wednesday night.
People in Kingsley were able to voice their opinions over the proposed medical marijuana factory.
It could mean more than a hundred new jobs after the job losses from the Pugsley Correctional Facility’s closing.
TheraCann wants to put the plant in the village’s industrial park off M-113.
It was a common theme during Wednesday night’s public meeting to discuss TheraCann’s proposal to build a medical marijuana facility in Kingsley which could create more than 100 jobs.
“So it’s in the right area, it’s got the right demographics and we feel like the people honestly need a solution," said Richard Goodman, president of TheraCann USA.
While some may question if this is the right city to put a $20 million factory, the president of Theracann says education on the issue is the most important part.
“We’re here today to overcome, I don’t want to say the ignorance, but we need to provide people with education that there is something to this product if handled the right way," said Goodman.
The Downtown Development Authority analyzed the project based on the impact it would have to their economy such as jobs, purchase of property, taxes and much more. They say the benefits outweigh the controversy.
“So we analyze it mostly from an economic point of view. In this particular case, we’ve analyzed it with some restraints on social impacts because we understand that, that is the controversy that is outside the economics here," said Marc McKellar, a DDA representative for the village of Kingsley.
DDA members and the community were all on the same page tonight about the impact of this proposal.
"So we look at what is this proposal specifically providing economically. Jobs, purchase of property, taxes, specifically they’re not asking for any tax breaks. They are going to provide all the infrastructure at their own cost," said McKellar
With the DDA’s thumbs up, TheraCann can now bring their proposal to the village council who will make the final decision.
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