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NILES – Cannabis businesses continue to grow in Niles.

The Niles Planning Commission met on Wednesday evening to schedule public hearings for three marijuana grow and processing facilities in the city and the drive-thru for the Popeye’s currently being built at 306 S. 11th St. The commission also discussed more details as the draft of the city’s Master Plan rolls out to the public and surrounding municipalities.

Public hearings for all four businesses were scheduled for the planning commission’s April 28 meeting.

Craft Hydroponics is seeking a its Class C medical grow and processing facility license for its business inside the former Simplicity Complex at 901 Wayne St. Inside the same complex, Anthos is seeking its adult-use Class C grow and processing license.

Niles Community Development Director Sanya Vitale introduced Craft Hydroponics owners, Eric and Ted Dudeck, at the meeting.

“They are going to be a small cannabis provider,” Vitale said. “They have quite a bit of experience working in the cannabis industry. They don’t anticipate any excess demands on anything at this time.”

Vitale said Anthos is going to be the first marijuana grower to open up within the Simplicity Complex.

“They’ve got top notch security in there,” Vitale said. “They’re getting ready to open their medical [grow], so we are encouraging them to get started on their adult-use license as well.”

Timothy Trojahn, of Anthos, said they were excited to apply for the adult-use license, and to get operational over the summer.

Native Michigan Remedies is the third company with a public hearing scheduled for April 28. The owners are applying for an adult-use Class C grow and processing establishment license for their company at 2112 Industrial Dr. in Niles.

“We are finally going to market [with medical marijuana] in April. We have our first harvest underway,” said Bill Haas, of Native Michigan Remedies. “We’re just waiting for the testing to come back [from the lab]. As soon as that comes back, we are packaging and it is going to market.”

In other news, the upcoming Popeye’s buildout will include a drive-thru April 2, and has a formality hearing at the same meeting, though construction should continue as scheduled at this time.

At the March 8 Niles City Council meeting, the council approved the next steps to be taken by the planning commission to release drafts of the city’s master plan for feedback from the public, as well as surrounding municipalities.

The draft of the master plan is currently available at the Niles District Library, at Niles city clerk’s office, the city administrator’s office, along with two hard copies at the Niles-Buchanan YMCA. It is anticipated to be available on the Niles District Library website and the Greater Niles Chamber of Commerce website.

Vitale said notifications of the documents to be viewed and how to give input should go out with utility bills in the coming month. Surrounding municipalities and commissions will also be notified.

The planning commission will host a public input hearing to be announced at a later date.