NILES TOWNSHIP, MI — Michigan border towns are growing weary of marijuana.

On Nov. 4, voters in Niles Township on the Indiana border and in Menominee along the Upper Peninsula’s Wisconsin border cast ballots to block pot shops from coming to their communities.

Now, elected officials, attorneys and residents in both communities are bracing for an onslaught of lawsuits, the typical fallout when communities tell marijuana businesses “no.”

‘A little bit lied to’

There is no publicly available data that identifies what portion of Michigan’s marijuana sales, which reached $3.2 billion in 2024, came near the border, but it’s significant.

Border business is lucrative for shops and tax coffers, but some residents “feel a little bit lied to” about the upside, said Michael DeDamos, a councilman in Menominee, where cannabis-related lawsuits have entangled the city since 2021 — with more likely to come.

Related: ‘The toothpaste has left the tube’: Ethical concerns, conflicts of interest emerge in U.P. weed war

“They expected a lot more money to come flooding in to benefit the community in some tangible way” and “the pot tourism never materialized,” DeDamos said. “People drive up here an hour from Green Bay, spend another hour sitting in their car at Lume, and by time they’re done with that, they fill up some gas and maybe get some Taco Bell.

“But they’re not stopping to see the sights of Menominee.”

A new market

Menominee, which has eight stores, and New Buffalo, an Indiana-border community that now has 26 marijuana retail licenses, are examples of the marijuana border boom.

Niles Township appeared to be next in line until 58% cast ballots supporting a ban on all marijuana commerce.

The township has been indecisive when it comes to marijuana.

In 2019, Niles Township officials passed an ordinance banning marijuana business. In 2022, voters rejected a ballot initiative to overturn that ban. In November 2024, about 52% of voters passed a ballot initiative to allow marijuana. The passage required the township to issue a minimum of four retailer licenses.

Elected officials ultimately decided against imposing a cap, allowing an unlimited number of marijuana shops along a 1.5-mile stretch of South 11th Street in the township.

As a result, applications surged to nearly 30 by last summer. During a special meeting on Aug. 11, Niles Township Supervisor Marge Durm-Hiat explained that attorneys had warned limiting licenses could lead to lawsuits. To avoid legal challenges, officials opted to permit an unrestricted number of marijuana stores.

Marijuana companies moved quickly, creating business plans and drafting purchase agreements in preparation to open next year.

Meanwhile, in Niles proper, a separate jurisdiction from the township, four marijuana shops already exist. The first opened in 2020 andat least one fought to eliminate the potential new competition.

‘Will of the voters’

The existing shopsin the city are already reaping the windfall of their close proximity to the Indiana border, less than 10 miles up the road from the University of Notre Dame.

The proposedcannabis corridor would place stores closer to Indiana, where marijuana remains illegal, offering a more favorable location to capture out-of-state customers.

Niles Township approved the plan for unlimited licenseson April 21. Just four days later, the Committee Against Unlimited Pot Shops in Niles Charter Township formed. By Aug. 4, petitions and ballot language to ban marijuana shops in the township had been certified.

Filing paperwork lists Luke Johnson of New Baltimore as the ballot committee’s treasurer. However, campaign finance records reviewed by MLive reveal nearly $373,000 the committee spent or received by way of in-kind services as of Oct. 20 is linked to owners of Levels Cannabis in Niles.

Neither Johnson nor Levels representatives responded to requests for comment.

Levels Cannabis is owned by Oasis Wellness Center of Niles, a company organized by Mazin Samona of Troy, according to business filings.

Samona is also the founder of Wild Bill’s Tobacco, the self-proclaimed second-largest tobacco retailer in the nation.

Campaign finance filings for the ballot committee show a company named Level Up Ventures paid $62,680 for petition circulation services, $176,677.98 for legal assistance, $42,500 for consulting services and $9,579.35 for mailers.

Samona is listed among the organizers and as the registered agent for Level Up Ventures in online business filings.

No one from Wild Bill’s Tobacco or Level Up Ventures, including Samona, responded to requests for comment.

The committee’s efforts were successful at the polls. Voters passed the ban.

How the rejected marijuana businesses intend to respond is still unclear. MLive attempted to reach several of the businesses for comment, but none returned calls or emails.

Niles Township officials are saying little but seem to be bracing for litigation.

“Our attorney has told us not to respond to anything at all,” Niles Township Trustee Terri Grimes said when contacted by MLive.

A day after the election, Portage-based attorney Robert E. Thall, who represents Niles Township, sent a letter to all marijuana businesses that had been awarded conditional licenses.

“The township must respect the will of the voters … ” the letter said. “This prohibition on marijuana establishments shall remain in effect unless a future vote of the people demand otherwise.”

‘Dumpy down there’

Thanks to Niles Township voters, James Jorgenson’s plan to retire with the heap of marijuana money is on hold.

For a year, he’s been in negotiations to sell his motorcycle shop of 20 years for a healthy profit. He wouldn’t disclose how much, but the buyer is among the dozens that planned to open in Niles Township.

“In a nutshell, I damn near ruined my business,” said Mark Godsey, a 71-year-old who also planned to retire after selling his Niles Township bowling alley, Joey Armadillos, to a pot shop.

Godsey cancelled leagues this year, his “bread and butter,” so they didn’t have to shut down midway through the season, if the sale was finalized.

Now the bowlers are gone and the sale in limbo, Godsey said.

He said marijuana businesses offering top dollar were poised to gobble up otherwise undesirable, dilapidated businesses along the mile-plus stretch of road in Niles Township that was on track to become one of the most dense commercial marijuana districts in the state — if not the world.

“It’s always been dumpy down there,” Godsey said, “massage parlors, liquor stores, empty buildings, weeds growing up all over the place. It’s an embarrassment to Michigan when you drive over the state line.”

With the new pot ban, he said it will remain that way. Those properties are mostly “unsaleable,” Godsey said.

He’s confused how the township was able to begin the process of issuing licenses, and then a new ballot initiative was able to stop it in its tracks.

“I had a purchase agreement, (the township) gave out building permits,” Godsey said. “If you can just get a petition and get it put back on the ballot and voted down, I’d be a little nervous in other towns that have pot stores already built.”

Expensive lawsuits

Residents in Menominee similarly voted to block new marijuana stores from coming to town. Menominee currently has eight stores in the community of 8,200 residents.

Two more are fighting for one slot left open after 78% of voters passed a ballot initiative to cap the previously unlimited number of available licenses at nine.

The ballot initiative was spearheaded by a group named Defending Menominee, a committee that has been represented in court by attorney Kevin Blair. Blair also represents Lume, one of the largest marijuana retailers in Menominee.

Neither Lume nor Blair responded to MLive requests for comment.

Menominee Councilwoman Cheryl Haupt said no matter how the vote turned out, a lawsuit was likely.

“If the capping at nine didn’t happen with this latest election, we would probably be sued by the Defending Menominee coalition,” she said.

Menominee has been embroiled in a string of lawsuits ever since it awarded its first marijuana licenses in 2021.

Multiple Menominee councilmembers who spoke to MLive said they’ve lost track of the total number. Attorney Matt Cross, who represents Menominee, identified 10 lawsuits, the majority of which remain active.

There’s one key difference between Menominee and Niles Township, according to DeDamos – Menominee’s legal fees are covered by the marijuana companies.

Following initial lawsuits filed by marijuana businesses challenging the license selection process in Menominee, the City Council entered into an unusual settlement agreement.

In exchange for altering its city ordinance and allowing the suing companies to open, the businesses agreed to pay legal fees resulting from the decision.

Menominee City Manager Brett Botbyl said he has no way to quantify the amount of litigation costs the city might have incurred.

“We haven’t paid a nickel,” DeDamos said. “If we didn’t have indemnity, just the lawyers’ bills alone would have bankrupted the city and completely ruined us.”

Without a similar agreement in place in Niles Township, DeDamos wonders how the government will pay for the litigation.

“It sounds like the voters have voted for a lot of expensive lawsuits,” DeDamos said. “I hope they’re ready to pay for all that.”