NILES — With recreational marijuana slated for the November ballot, city council members decided Monday to practice some caution toward the locally budding medical marijuana business and put a moratorium into effect on new industry applications for the next 180 days. 

That means medical marijuana businesses interested in coming to Niles will have to wait to submit an application until Nov. 17, after the mid-term election wraps up Nov. 6. However, medical marijuana business owners are still welcome to express interest and have a conversation with city leaders about their plans. City council members could also lift the moratorium at any time if they choose, or extend it.

The resolution came up for a vote at the Niles City Council meeting. After some discussion, council members put unanimous support behind the decision, except for council member Georgia Boggs, who was absent Monday evening.

Part of council members’ discussion was based on a proposal that council members heard that same night from representatives of H.D.S. Investments. Company officials are seeking to purchase a vacant piece of property at the corner of Lake and 13th streets with the aim to build a medical marijuana processing facility.

Mike Heskett, an H.D.S. principal and lifelong Niles resident, said the company wants to transform the vacant lot into a “new shiny building.”

Heskett told council members he wants to do business in his hometown.

“I want to stay here. I don’t want to go to Buchanan. I don’t want to go to Galien,” Heskett said. “It upsets me that I have to go somewhere else. We think we belong here and we want to be here. I drove by there and there are trees growing out.”

But the moratorium could delay their plans and serve as motivation to find a new location, Heskett said.

City Administrator Ric Huff said while the moratorium would limit H.D.S.’s ability to present an application at this time, they could still continue to work with the city and negotiate a property purchase agreement, with a contingency that they receive state approval for their medical marijuana business.

Huff said the moratorium was influenced by the potential that recreational marijuana could be legalized, following the November election. This presents a lot of unknowns for the city and how it will impact the seven medical marijuana licenses that city officials approved in December for four different companies, Huff said.

“It’s really about this voter referendum,” Huff said. “We don’t know what the law is going to say.”

Huff said one such unknown is whether state legislature will rule that medical marijuana businesses are automatically approved to do recreational business.

Council member Tim Skalla agreed with Huff and said the election results could make a big difference in the laws.

“I think it is really hard to tell also where the state stands and what is going to come down the pipe,” Skalla said. “For me it seems like we should be continuing to take information on this for those interested in our town, but not to make any permanent decisions, until we know what the state will do.”

Mayor Nick Shelton asked Community Development Director Sanya Vitale how many applications the city had been receiving. As of Monday, Vitale said the most recent proposals the city received were from H.D.S. A company has also expressed interest in transforming the former Simplicity building on Wayne Street into a medical marijuana incubator.

Like Huff, Vitale said the moratorium could help city officials iron out undetermined laws. 

“The state still issues new rules every single week on what we are supposed to do,” Vitale said, “and the final rules have not been presented on how we are supposed to deal with the medical marijuana program.”

As the meeting neared a close, council member John DiCostanzo made a motion to sell H.D.S. the property for $1, contingent upon the company receiving a state license and verifying intent to construct on the property. But council members voted 5-2 to deny the motion.

Following the meeting, Heskett expressed some discontent and said the decision Monday night could lead to the company looking at alternative locations in Buchanan or Benton Harbor. However, Heskett said he remains hopeful that Niles could be home for his business.

“In order to get through the state, we have to have a place to go and right now we don’t have a place,” Heskett said. “We are going to continue talking with [city council members]. I think we turned a few people, so hopefully we can turn a few more.”