DOWAGIAC — Hopes from Dowagiac residents of seeing recreational marijuana facilities in the city may be up in smoke, following the reading of a proposed ordinance Monday.

During its regular meeting, the Dowagiac City Council hosted a first reading of a proposed ordinance to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana businesses and establishments within city limits. The second reading of the ordinance will be hosted at the council’s May 28 meeting at 7 p.m.

The proposed ordinance prohibits the establishment or operation of any marijuana-related businesses or marijuana establishment in the city as defined in the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act.

The proposal comes as a response to the November 2018 vote, which legalized recreational marijuana in the state of Michigan and required the state to establish licensing provisions for the production, distribution and sale of recreational marijuana products. Unlike the medical marijuana law, the recreational use law requires a community to either opt in or opt out of allowing business uses in the community.

As those state provisions and regulations have yet to be finalized, City Manager Kevin Anderson said he and other city officials have researched the issue and believe it is wise to opt out of recreational marijuana at this time.

“Elected officials, staff and [the] legal [team] have closely followed the development of the laws and regulations concerning recreational marijuana facilities and are concerned that until the state regulatory guidelines are complete and understood it would be premature to consider the development of local rules that would allow for business operations of this nature in the city,” Anderson wrote in a memo to city council. “The unknown nature of state requirements and the conflict between state and federal law creates an unclear, unsettled environment.”

During Monday’s meeting, Anderson reiterated the sentiments he wrote to the council, though he added that the proposed opt-out does not mean that the city could not revisit the issue at a later date after seeing the regulations that come from the state.

“To get out in front of what [the state] is doing would be presumptive,” Anderson said. “The most important thing we can do is to have a good understanding of what the rules and regulations are, and if we don’t opt out at this time, it means we have effectively opted in when the regulations come in. For us to be able to control our destiny and what the rules are and how we would implement them and us to determine how we could do that in the most cost-effective manner, it is really important that we opt out at this time.”

Following the first reading, several city council members voiced their support of opting out, saying that they believe it would be unwise to opt in without hearing from the state.

“This is too much of a muddy area right now,” said councilmember Leon Laylin. “There is too much confusion between right and wrong or what is legal and what is not legal. For us to make a decision now would be inappropriate based on that fact alone. … Rather than get into the middle of the fight, we decided that we would stay out of it until we can have a clear decision [from the state] about what is right and what is wrong. For that reason, that is where we are today.”