Albion City Council approved updates to the city’s adult-use marihuana ordinance Jan. 20, following discussion and a first reading earlier in the month. The ordinance clarifies municipal licensing requirements and expands the city’s authority to inspect and enforce compliance at marihuana growing and processing facilities operating within the city.
The measure, Ordinance 2026-01 — the first ordinance approved by council in 2026 — amends Chapter 22, Article VI of the city code and takes effect Feb. 20, 2026. Council first discussed the changes during its Jan. 5 meeting, where city officials outlined recent compliance issues that prompted the revisions.
According to the ordinance’s stated purpose, Albion previously allowed adult-use marihuana grower and processor facilities to operate within designated overlay districts. City officials said they have recently encountered situations in which facilities failed to comply with local regulations or renew required municipal licenses. In one case, a facility was found to have operated for nearly a year without a valid local license. The amendments were adopted to clarify licensing requirements and provide additional enforcement authority to ensure compliance.
During the Jan. 5 meeting, City Attorney Cullen Harkness described two separate incidents involving marihuana facilities that highlighted gaps in the city’s oversight tools.
In the first case, Harkness said public safety officers were dispatched to a facility for a civil matter unrelated to licensing. While on site, officers discovered that the facility’s municipal license had expired and had not been renewed.
Albion Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps later confirmed how the issue was identified.
“We got dispatched there for a civil issue,” Phipps said. “Once we were there, we looked at the certificate on the wall and realized the expiration date was well over a year.”
The second incident involved a different facility and was initially not discovered by the city. Harkness said the issue came to light during a routine inspection by the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
According to Harkness, inspectors found people living inside a grow operation and identified unsanitary conditions that raised serious health and safety concerns. After the state agency brought the matter to the city’s attention, local officials took steps to revoke the facility’s municipal license following an administrative hearing.
Phipps said the incidents underscored the need for clearer oversight of marihuana facilities.
“These aren’t barber shops or flower shops — these are controlled substances,” Phipps said during the Jan. 5 discussion. “They’re located in the industrial park, within an overlay district. Unless you know it’s there, you could drive by and not realize a grow facility is operating.”
Under the updated ordinance, marihuana establishments may not operate in Albion without a valid municipal license. Applications must undergo review by multiple city departments, including public safety, finance, planning and zoning, and the city attorney, before being submitted to council for approval. Municipal licenses are issued for one-year terms and must be renewed annually.
The ordinance also adds a requirement that marihuana facilities register with the city’s income tax department, addressing prior situations in which businesses were operating without proper employee withholding.
A new enforcement section allows the city to conduct routine inspections as a condition of licensure, review security camera footage when necessary, issue cease-and-desist orders to unlicensed operations, and close facilities that fail to comply after notice.
Phipps said the goal of the ordinance is accountability, not expansion.
“A lot of these facilities spend more time trying to find loopholes than just going through the proper channels,” he said. “This ordinance gives the city better tools to address those issues.”
City officials emphasized that Albion permits only adult-use marihuana growers and processors, not retail dispensaries, lounges, or transporters. Those facilities are limited to designated industrial overlay districts, within the city’s industrial park.
Council approved the ordinance unanimously at its Jan. 20 meeting, describing the changes as a step toward clearer oversight and consistent enforcement rather than an expansion of marihuana operations within the city.
