Voters react to the results on banning Recreational Marijuana in Montrose
MONTROSE - Voters in Montrose rejected a ban on marijuana facilities in the city.
Mid-Michigan's May special election came down to a margin of less than 1%.
Results show 240 people voted against the ban while 232 voted in favor.
The proposed dispensary will take over Roxy's Diner that's located right off of M-57.
A local restaurant that closed back in 2021 due to COVID-19.
Reasons why owner Roxanne Rodgers was so eager to sell - a decision she wasn't expecting to create such a divide around town.
"This town needs to capture this revenue it's 51,000 plus dollars that we cannot turn down," said Rodgers.
Owner of Roxy's Diner Roxanne Rodgers said that when the owner for the future dispensary came to her to buy the old diner she jumped right on board for the sake of the community's growth.
"Our downtown is empty, not a lot of businesses are opening up. This is a legal retail business that sits on M-57 a commercially zoned highway that's what it's there for," she said.
Residents who voted against the ban say this is a step forward for the town's future.
"It promotes more growth in the community and I'm always for an entrepreneur," said Iris Smith, Montrose resident.
"The city could use additional revenue; it's not a very large town," said Rick Putnam, Montrose resident. "We're off the freeway and it's not a place that has a draw to it so any additional business that we can have here I think is good."
And residents like 74-year-old Julia Foust says that as a supporter and medical marijuana consumer - she hopes the opposers can move forward with the decision.
"I noticed today that most of the signs have been taken down and hopefully this is the end and we're allowed to let people smoke if you want, drink if you want, love who you want and we can all get along," Foust said.
Rodgers says though this issue has brought a lot of division in the community the old town feel will not change.
"Our town is still going to remain the same and we're still going to have our same hometown feel but we're going to be able to capture some much-needed revenue," Rodgers said.
There were plenty of people that were for the ban because it was a tight race but none of them wanted to go on camera tonight
We reached out to the city Manager and the Mayor and they were not available for a statement.
