Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The old fire station building in the Village of Pinckney could become the first marijuana retailer in the area.

Council met Monday night and approved granting a special land use request for the project at 1066 East Main Street. The old fire hall has been vacant for several years and is located in the Secondary Business District.

The Planning Commission earlier recommended approval, with some conditions, as did Council.

The applicant is QPS Michigan Holdings LLC, with the listed owner Carney Enterprises of Michigan LLC. The project is titled C3 Provisioning on the site plan. The applicant is applying for a Village of Pinckney adult-use marihuana license, which first calls for Village approval of a Special Land Use request.

Representing the applicant at the meeting was Bob Phillips. He’s from the local area but the company is based in Ann Arbor - having been around for six years with locations in Ironwood, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Buchanan, and Constantine. Phillips said they see themselves as a “professional, upstanding company that operates in six different states - soon to be seven”. He said they have ten retail stores in Michigan and 31 in the six states they operate in.

Phillips noted they meet all requirements and submitted their package back in 2021 for the original license application – which is essentially the same but some updates made per the planning department. He said the footprint of the old fire station building will basically remain the same with no expansion and no reduction – they’ll just be sprucing it up and making it a retail use. Additional parking will be added on the back side of the site, along with stormwater management improvements.

Village President Jeff Buerman commented the project would be a good rehab of the building and meets all guidelines. There were no comments from any Council members present, just a question about the company’s other locations in Michigan.

It was noted that Council was only approving the special land use permit to become a retailer, as there are no marijuana licenses available in the Village at this time.

Buerman reported that The Means license is up for renewal and he’ll be sending out a letter to them notifying them that they will likely be on the agenda for the last meeting of August. Council will be reviewing that license and make a determination. The Commission earlier voted to recommend it be revoked.

The Means was the initial marijuana-related project approved by the Village in the old vacant Pinckney Elementary School – to be the first in Livingston County – but it never came to fruition due to various reported setbacks. Requests for comment were never returned.

The special land use request was approved with the following conditions; submission of updated prequalification documentation from the State of Michigan and incorporation of innovative stormwater management techniques that support the green infrastructure goals identified in the Village Master Plan.

Photo: Google Street View