First 2 businesses get marijuana licenses in Berkley

BERKLEY — Two marijuana businesses in Berkley were given approvals for licenses by the City Council.

At its June 20 meeting, the Berkley City Council approved marijuana licenses for two businesses, Attitude Wellness and Quality Roots. They were two of five establishments that have been working in the city to get licenses.

Originally, Berkley had planned to issue three marijuana licenses to businesses. After the initial scoring and appeals process was completed, a three-way tie for third had emerged. The top-two scoring applications were Operation Grow and Quality Roots, and the three-way tie was between Attitude Wellness, Seven Point Dispensing of Michigan LLC and Yellow Tail Ventures LLC at 11 Mile Road.

City Council approved an ordinance amendment in April in a 4-3 vote to increase the number of licenses offered from three to five. From there, businesses were tasked to move ahead with the site planning process and submit a plan to the Planning Commission for review. Both Attitude Wellness and Quality Roots were given recommendations for approval by the commission.

John Abbo, a representative for Attitude Wellness, which will be conducting business as Lume Cannabis Co., shared his excitement about getting to work. Lume will be located at 1949 12 Mile Road.

“(I) just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to invest in your community,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming. We’re very excited to be here and we’re excited to bring a first-class establishment to your town.”

Aric Klar, the owner of Quality Roots and a former Berkley resident, also was excited about bringing a business to his former home. Quality Roots will be located at 3916 W. 11 Mile Road.

“I’m very excited to get to this point with you all today,” he said. “I am very excited to hopefully make continuous investments into this community and to just show this community what a good choice they made, not only with Quality Roots, but to embrace this new culture and this new environment that is so exciting for us, and just excited for the opportunity and excited to get the ball rolling as fast as possible.”

Quality Roots’ license was approved in a 6-0 vote by council, but Attitude Wellness was approved in a 4-2 vote. Mayor Pro Tem Bridget Dean, Councilwomen Natalie Price and Jessica Vilani and Councilman Dennis Henne voted in support of the license. Councilmen Steve Baker and Ross Gavin voted against the approval.

Both Baker and Gavin were two of the three no votes when council voted to increase the number of licenses that the city offered.

Neither council person could be reached for comment on their vote by press time.