City sells former police academy to become a marijuana grow facility

The city of Flint, Michigan has sold its former Police Training Academy to a cannabis company that will convert it into an indoor marijuana growing facility. The Flint City Council approved the sale in a tight 5-4 vote a month ago. The property had been listed for a week but only received two offers, both from cannabis concerns. One party, represented by Flint attorney Brenda Williams, came in at $20,000, but the second bid was for $500,000. From MLive:

After the vote, [council member Eric] Mays asked city attorneys for a legal opinion about whether the sale to Evergrow LLC followed the proper procedures for the disposal of city-owned property.

"I just ain't cool with this process," he said, questioning why the sale wasn't handled by the city's Purchasing Department and why it wasn't advertised more broadly than the city's website.

If the sale of the property is completed, Evergrow will also need a state license to grow marijuana, Flint Planning Commission approval for a site plan, and must have its building plans approved by the city[…]

Williams said her client was also interested in establishing a marijuana grow facility at the property, adding the property would have been the first marijuana facility "of a substantial nature" to be owned by a "local person of color in the city of Flint."

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