NEGAUNEE –The Negaunee City Council will convene at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Negaunee Senior Center to consider the first reading of an ordinance amendment that would add marijuana establishments to the city’s industrial district as a special land use.

An ordinance approved by the council on Nov. 15 would allow marijuana businesses to register in the city effective Jan. 1, but only in industrial zones.

“Having it just be industrial, you are left with the Tracey Mine, the Kallioinen scrapyard, there’s parcels next to the wastewater treatment facility, and also the wastewater treatment facility, and also the city owns an industrial parcel across from the cemetery; that’s the only place a marijuana establishment could go as we have (worded it) — if the council adopts it,” Negaunee Planning and Zoning Administrator David Nelson told the council during a meeting in September.

The Negaunee zoning ordinance on the city website defines special land use as “those uses of land which are essentially compatible with the uses permitted in a zoning district, but which possess characteristics or locational qualities which require individual review and restriction in order to avoid incompatibility with the character of the surrounding area, public services and facilities, and adjacent uses of land.”

Other special land uses included in the ordinance include: asphalt plant, banks and financial institutions, bowling alley, food processing establishment, and freight handling facility.

If the ordinance amendment is approved, a public hearing would be set for the council’s regular meeting on Feb. 13.

The council will also consider a resolution authorizing the sale of the Jackson Grove Tennis Courts on County Road.

Upon approval, and a subsequent public hearing on the matter, the property would be put out on bids and upon sale, transferred by way of a quit-claim deed for the minimum consideration of $1, the resolution states.

Councilors are also expected to hear an update from the Iron Range Hockey Association regarding a locker room project at the Negaunee Ice Arena and consider the first reading of an ordinance regarding the city’s Downtown Development Authority boundary expansion and “amended and restated development plan,” according to city officials.

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242.