A major city development, medical marijuana and newspaper racks highlight this week’s East Lansing City Council agenda as council members are set to vote on a deadline extension for City Center II.
The council also will discuss an ordinance that would amend the city’s code to allow the use of medical marijuana, as well as one that would change the way newspaper racks are assembled at its work session tonight, scheduled for 7 p.m. in Courtroom 2 of 54-B District Court, 101 Linden St.
The council will decide whether to approve a third deadline extension for the City Center II development agreement.
The original deadline for the developer to meet all the requirements of the development agreement was Oct. 1, 2008, and has since been extended twice. The deadline now is March 31.
Strathmore Development Co., the City Center II project developer, has asked the city for a 90-day extension to all deadlines in the development agreement.
Previous requests for deadline extensions have fueled speculation about Strathmore’s ability to finance the project. However, Jim van Ravensway, director of planning and community development for East Lansing, said he’s not concerned about finances.
Registered and qualified patients and caregivers will be able to possess marijuana for medical purposes, if the council approves an ordinance that would incorporate new state laws permitting marijuana into the city’s code.
Michigan voters in November approved a measure to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and that measure will go into effect April 4 if this ordinance passes, said Dennis McGinty, East Lansing’s city attorney.
East Lansing’s marijuana enforcement code differs from the state’s in that it’s more lenient on penalties, McGinty said. ?The proposed ordinance would match the city’s code to the state’s.
“The fines are less, and there’s less potential for jail time under the (current) ordinance,” McGinty said.
East Lansing and Ann Arbor were the first two Michigan cities to adopt separate ordinances from the state.
The council also will discuss an ordinance to provide large, modular news racks that would replace individual boxes chained to lampposts and trash receptacles with modulated news boxes such as the ones used by daily newspapers.
Angela Mabin, a public works administrator for East Lansing, said officials have identified newspaper boxes being in the public’s way as a problem downtown.
Mabin said the ordinance is modeled after similar ones in Birmingham, Plymouth and Northville.
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