Cloud Cannabis Co. is changing hands, and so will the marijuana license previously issued to operate its facility in New Baltimore.
The New Baltimore City Council voted 3-2 on Jan. 22 to approve a medical/recreational marijuana application from Stash Ventures LLC, the new owner of Cloud Cannabis. The company operates nearly a dozen locations throughout Michigan, including a dispensary on Cricklewood Boulevard in New Baltimore.
“We’re going to be taking the Cloud name, so really, the signage on the building, the layout of the building, the façade of the building — none of that’s going to change,” said Doug Manson, an attorney for Stash Ventures LLC. “So for all intents and purposes nobody’s going to notice any changes to the operation of the business, to the look of the business. It’s just the underlying ownership that’s going to be changing.”
He said the company’s state application would not be complete until it received local approval from the city council.
“Because the state has dual local and state licensing, we have submitted an application to the state, at least partially,” the attorney said. “The state doesn’t transfer licenses per se, so they’ll be frankly issuing us a new license that immediately takes effect at the same time the existing license is rescinded.”
The attorney for Stash Ventures LLC said once the application is finalized, a state inspection will be done, with city officials being notified of any violations. He anticipated the transition would occur at the end of January.
“We’re talking about an operational business that has passed inspections already and they do periodic inspections,” he said. “There’s been no issues with those, so more of a formality I think on the inspection side of things because this is not a newly built building.”
The application prompted a lengthy discussion among council members at the recent meeting.
“We are new to this. We’ve only done this the last few years, so we’re trying, I think, to be as consistent as we can,” council member Ryan Covert said. “But this is the first transfer that we’ve had to deal with, so it is a little different for us.”
Some council members said they would like to see a more extensive review process for transfer applications, similar to the procedure for new applications.
“We have never had a transfer so I would have liked to see a different process,” council member Jacob Dittrich said. “Or if we would’ve known this transfer was taking place, someone would’ve said, ‘Hey what is our process? What does this look like? Maybe we change this.’”
Council member Jason Harvey agreed.
“I would have liked to have a little bit further to meet with the new owners on something with this type of business only because it is unchartered territory that should be made sure that it’s thorough,” council member Jason Harvey said. “I would have loved to go and look at one of their other facilities and see that they’re up to snuff.”
Some compared the application to a liquor license transfer.
“It’s very similar at this stage. That’s how they’re being operated on,” City Attorney Tim Tomlinson said. “They have to go through the process with the state. They have to obtain their licensing and cross all the T’s and dot their I’s.
“This is a larger company, obviously, and you’re seeing a lot of this consolidation in the industry right now. And they obviously have a number of facilities that are operating within the confines of the law and no violations or anything like that.”
Still, Dittrich called for more oversight.
“It’s more or less the point that it’s not like a liquor license to us because it’s something very new. … I would like to have that oversight. I don’t see it right now,” he said.
Mayor Tom Semaan said the process aligned with the parameters set in current city ordinance.
“According to the ordinance that you passed there is no provision to bring this back to council prior,” he said. “It is in the clerk’s hands, and therefore, the clerk and the attorney did what needed to be done. Now you can certainly revise an ordinance to give you what you’re looking for, but it would be unjust and unfair to hold them up at this point when they’ve already been vetted.”
Tomlinson said council has the option to amend the current ordinance to allow for a different process in the future.
“Just the parameters of how a transfer would occur,” he said. “I wouldn’t change all of the nuts and bolts, but just the process because right now the process just puts it in the clerk’s hands.”
“If we want to do a subcommittee on every transfer we can do that. That’s not a problem,” the city attorney added. “I’d just be a little bit hesitant to take that route with this particular transfer because the ordinance doesn’t provide for that.”
The motion to approve the application was made by council member David Duffy and supported by council member Mel Eason. Harvey and Dittrich voted no. Mayor Pro-Tem Flo Hayman was absent.
Cloud Cannabis opened the 2,000-square-foot retail center in New Baltimore in 2022.
Michigan voters approved the legalization of cannabis for medical use in 2008 and recreational use in 2018. Last year, New Baltimore received a payment of about $155,520 from the state’s Marihuana Regulation Fund for the three marijuana facilities that operated in the city in 2022.
