Saginaw City Council Stalemates on Pot Shop Approval

A Saginaw marijuana retailer has arrived at a hurtle in its development.

Premier Provisioning is looking to establish a location at 1030 Gratiot Avenue, the former site of the Hamilton Home Bakery. Since that location is only 208 feet feet of Fordney Park, the Board of Zoning Appeals would need to grant a waiver from the sensitive use distance, which requires marijuana retailers to be 250 feet away from publicly owned parks.

As part of that process, approval was sought from the City of Saginaw, who owns Fordney Park. In a deadlocked 4 – 4 vote during Monday night’s city council meeting, that approval was not granted. In the early stages of development, the retailer had planned to use a site that was 70 feet further from the park, but later revised their plans to include the former bakery.