Correction: City councilor Bob Durm is a representative of the second ward. 

With a proposal on the table to turn the former Niles Post Office into a medical marijuana dispensary and other industry businesses hoping to open their doors to customers in Niles, city council members must make decisions in the coming months about where medical marijuana facilities can set up shop.

Monday night, they began a discussion to determine the number of facilities and locations that would serve patients and the city best during a committee of the whole meeting.

The discussion began with an evaluation of each of the five types of facilities: provisioning center, transportation, testing facility, grow operation and processing.

State law will allow municipalities to create zoning for all of these facilities, except growing operations, which must take place in an industrial zone parcel, due to the way Niles is currently zoned.

For the most part, councilors seemed to agree on where they wanted to regulate these potential businesses. Looking at a map of the city, councilors generally seemed to see the northeast side of town in the industrial zoned area as the best location for these types of operations. Commercial areas were also considered for some types.

Some councilors saw the potential in allowing medical marijuana businesses to set up shop along corridors in Niles, plagued by crumbling factories, such as the Wayne Street area from 8th to 11th streets.

Like any discussion on marijuana in the months past, contention reared its head at the mention of bringing marijuana to the downtown streets of Niles.

Council member Bob Durm, who represents the second ward, cautioned fellow city council members about the unknown.

“It is very early,” Durm said. “It is going to be our city police force that has to police these, our code enforcement that has to police these … I think we need to proceed cautiously and carefully until we find out exactly what we are getting into.”

This generated a burst of wild applause from a single woman in the front row of the meeting.

Councilor Tim Skalla, who also represents the fourth ward, left his seat at the front of the room to show councilors on a map precisely where he did not want the industries to cross. Skalla said he wants to assure that the medical marijuana industries are a fair distance from Niles’ Riverfront Park.

“I do not think there is that much concern with distributors being in the downtown section,” Skalla said. “But I have talked to a lot of people that want to keep them away from the parks. That seemed like a reasonable request.”

Skalla discussed splitting the 300 block of downtown, with the east half being acceptable for dispensary facilities and the west half, close to the park, being a “no go” zone.

Council member Gretchen Bertschy asked if council members should consider the location of the childcare facility and preschool located at 210 E. Main St. and potential proximity to a dispensary.

Because the facility has a school license there would be a required distance.

Councilors again discussed the post office offer. Last week, Huff announced that an undisclosed company was interested in purchasing the building for $650,000 or leasing part of the main floor of the building. There are no other potential buyers for the building at this time. The city has already set aside $200,000 for repairs and Huff said it could be written into a contract that the next building owner would have to be responsible for repairs.

Councilor Charlie McAfee said it was time for the city to make choices that could allow medical marijuana to be easier to obtain for those who need it most.

“I just feel for people in pain,” McAfee said.

Nick Shelton expressed similar sentiment.

“The people I speak to want access to this product, because they need it,” Shelton said. “They do not want to have to drive hours and hours to get it. I want to find a way to help as many people as we can who are suffering.”

Huff said the discussion that evening would be helpful in drawing up a draft zoning ordinance, but the discussion is far from over.

“I believe I understand what the core direction of the city council is and where they are looking to go,” Huff said. “We could draft an ordinance along those lines.”