Christie Deruiter v. Township of Byron
Christie Deruiter v. Township of Byron
Opinion
*277 Defendant appeals by right the trial court's order granting plaintiff summary disposition and declaring that defendant's ordinance conflicted with the provisions of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA), MCL 333.26421 et seq . ; therefore, it was preempted. We affirm.
Defendant adopted its zoning ordinance regulations for land development and use under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MZEA), MCL 125.3101 et seq .. Use of property by a medical marijuana registered caregiver was permitted only under Byron Township Zoning Ordinance (Zoning Ordinance) §§ 3.2.G and H as a "home occupation." Defendant prohibited registered *278 caregivers from the medical use of marijuana in a commercial property. Zoning Ordinance § 3.2.H.3 required medical marijuana caregivers to submit an application and pay a fee to obtain a township permit before engaging in any medical use of marijuana. Violation of the provisions of the ordinance could result in revocation of the permit, which would require the caregiver to cease all medical marijuana activity until defendant granted a new permit.
Plaintiff, a registered qualified medical marijuana patient and a registered primary caregiver to qualifying patients, *271 grew medical marijuana in an enclosed, locked facility at a commercial location within the township. On March 22, 2016, the township supervisor sent plaintiff a letter advising that plaintiff's medical-marijuana-related activities constituted a zoning violation. The letter ordered plaintiff to cease and desist all medical marijuana activities under threat of an enforcement action by defendant. Not long after, plaintiff sued defendant for declaratory and injunctive relief on the ground that defendant threatened her exercise of her rights and privileges under the MMMA despite her compliance with the MMMA. Plaintiff alleged that defendant's ordinance prohibited what the MMMA permitted. Consequently, it directly conflicted with the MMMA and required that the trial court hold that the MMMA preempted the ordinance.
Defendant countersued for enforcement of its ordinance and abatement of the nuisance. Defendant sought a declaratory judgment that its ordinance did not conflict with the MMMA.
The parties each moved for summary disposition. Both parties asserted that the dispositive issue was whether the MMMA preempted defendant's home-occupation ordinance. Plaintiff argued that the ordinance *279 directly conflicted with the MMMA. Defendant asserted that preemption did not apply because its ordinance only restricted the location where MMMA-compliant activities could occur and did not prohibit them altogether. The trial court held that the ordinance directly conflicted with the MMMA, so the MMMA preempted the ordinance. Defendant now appeals.
"Whether a state statute preempts a local ordinance is a question of statutory interpretation and, therefore, a question of law that we review de novo."
Ter Beek v. City of Wyoming
,
Defendant argues that the trial court erred by holding that the MMMA preempted its home-occupation ordinance because the ordinance merely regulated land use by restricting the location of medical use of marijuana while allowing patients and caregivers to fully exercise their rights and privileges. We disagree.
"Under Const. 1963, art. 7, § 22, a Michigan municipality's power to adopt resolutions and ordinances relating to municipal concerns is 'subject to the constitution and law.' "
People v. Llewellyn
,
The MZEA provides, in relevant part:
A local unit of government may provide by zoning ordinance for the regulation of land development and ... regulate *272 the use of land and structures ... to ensure that use of the land is situated in appropriate locations and ... to promote public health, safety, and welfare. [ MCL 125.3201(1).]
This Court explained in
Ter Beek I
,
[a] city ordinance that purports to prohibit what a state statute permits is void. A state statute preempts regulation by an inferior government when the local regulation directly conflicts with the statute or when the statute completely occupies the regulatory field. A direct conflict exists between a local regulation and state statute when the local regulation prohibits what the statute permits. [Quotation marks and citations omitted.]
The MMMA, an initiative law, governs medical marijuana use. "The words of an initiative law are given their ordinary and customary meaning as would have been understood by the voters."
McQueen I
, 293 Mich. App. at 653,
Under MCL 333.26427(a), the "medical use of marijuana is allowed under state law to the extent that it is
*281
carried out in accordance with the provisions of [the MMMA]." MCL 333.26423(f), as amended by
[T]he acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, internal possession, delivery, transfer, or transportation of marihuana or paraphernalia relating to the administration of marihuana to treat or alleviate a registered qualifying patient's debilitating medical condition or symptoms associated with the debilitating medical condition.
The MMMA provides immunity from arrest, prosecution, and penalty in any manner and prohibits the denial of any right or privilege to qualifying medical marijuana patients and registered primary caregivers. See MCL 333.26424(a) and (b) ;
People v. Hartwick
,
MCL 333.26424(b)(1) and (2) and MCL 333.26423(d) are in pari materia and must be read together as one law because they are different provisions of a statute that relate to the same subject matter.
*282
Ter Beek I
,
The MMMA also provides that "[a]ll other acts ... inconsistent with this act do not apply to the medical use of marihuana as provided for by this act." MCL 333.26427(e). Therefore, if another law is inconsistent with the MMMA such that it punishes MMMA-compliant medical use of marijuana, the MMMA controls and the person is immune from punishment.
People v. Koon
,
This Court has noted that if the MMMA's "statutory language is unambiguous, ... [n]o further judicial construction is required or permitted because we must conclude that the electors intended the meaning clearly expressed."
People v. Bylsma
,
*283
Noll v. Ritzer (On Remand)
,
Consequently, a court "may not speculate regarding legislative intent beyond the words expressed in a statute. Hence, nothing may be read into a statute that is not within the manifest intent of the Legislature as derived from the act itself."
Detroit Pub. Sch. v. Conn.
,
MCL 333.26423(d) essentially provides that caregivers may operate medical marijuana activities so long as they comply with the enclosed, locked facility requirements. MCL 333.26424(b)(1) and (2) and MCL 333.26423(d), when read together, grant registered caregivers the rights and privileges to grow medical marijuana without fear of penalties imposed by local governments. In
Ter Beek II
,
The Michigan Supreme Court stated that MCL 333.26427(a)"in no uncertain terms" provides for medical use of marijuana if such use complies with the MMMA and that no other law may interfere with the unambiguous rights conferred by the MMMA.
Ter Beek II
,
Recently, in
York Charter Twp. v. Miller
,
Notably, the MMMA does not grant municipalities authority to adopt ordinances that restrict registered caregivers' rights and privileges under the MMMA. By comparison, the Legislature recently enacted the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act, MCL 333.27101 et seq ., and specifically granted municipalities authority to adopt local ordinances including zoning regulations that *285 restrict the location, number, and type of facilities within their boundaries. MCL 333.27205. Obviously, had the Legislature intended to authorize municipalities to adopt zoning ordinances restricting the activities of registered medical marijuana caregivers, it could have done so in the MMMA. Despite amending the MMMA twice, the Legislature refrained from incorporating such provision into the MMMA.
We believe that the plain language of the MMMA lacks any ambiguity that would necessitate judicial construction to decipher its meaning. When the statute is read as a whole, no irreconcilable conflict results that makes the statutory provisions susceptible to more than one meaning. We conclude that the MMMA permits medical use of marijuana, particularly the cultivation of marijuana by registered caregivers, at locations regardless of land-use zoning designations as long as the activity occurs within the statutorily specified enclosed, locked facility. No provision in the MMMA authorizes municipalities to restrict the location of MMMA-compliant medical use of marijuana by caregivers. Nor does the MMMA authorize municipalities to adopt ordinances restricting MMMA-compliant conduct to home occupations in residential locations. So long as caregivers conduct their medical marijuana activities in compliance with the MMMA-including that caregivers cultivate medical marijuana in an "enclosed, locked facility" as defined by MCL 333.26423(d) and do not violate the location prohibitions of MCL 333.26427(b) -such conduct cannot be restricted or penalized.
In this case, defendant's Zoning Ordinance §§ 3.2.G and H improperly restricted the medical use of marijuana by permitting MMMA-compliant activities only as a home occupation within a dwelling or garage in residentially zoned areas within the township. Medical *286 marijuana home occupations were expressly prohibited in a commercial setting regardless of whether a patient's or caregiver's medical use of marijuana fully complied with the MMMA. Section 3.2.H.3 also required caregivers to obtain a permit by filing an application and paying a fee, and such permits were revocable for noncompliance with the ordinance *275 regardless of whether a patient's or caregiver's medical use of marijuana fully complied with the MMMA. Sections 3.2.G and H plainly prohibited caregivers from conducting noncommercial medical marijuana activities at nonresidential locations. Defendant's Zoning Ordinance § 14.11 imposed serious consequences, including fines and penalties for noncompliance.
We conclude that defendant's home-occupation ordinance, §§ 3.2.G and H, plainly purported to prohibit the exercise of rights and privileges that the MMMA otherwise permits. Defendant's prohibition against noncommercial medical use of marijuana by a caregiver within a commercial building effectively denied plaintiff, as a registered caregiver, the rights and privileges that MCL 333.26424(b) permits in conjunction with MCL 333.26423(d). Accordingly, under
Ter Beek I
,
Further, enforcement of defendant's home-occupation ordinance would result in the imposition of sanctions against plaintiff that the MMMA does not permit. See MCL 333.26424(b) ; see also
Ter Beek I
,
*287
MMMA-compliant medical use of marijuana in a commercial building was void and preempted by the MMMA.
Ter Beek I
,
We believe that the trial court correctly read the MMMA as a whole, analyzed its plain language, and interpreted the MMMA in a reasonable and harmonious manner. The trial court correctly ruled that defendant's home-occupation ordinance prohibited what the MMMA permitted, MMMA-compliant conduct, merely because it occurred in a commercially zoned location. The trial court also correctly decided that defendant's zoning ordinance permitted what the MMMA prohibited by targeting and restricting MMMA-compliant use by adding a layer of restrictions and regulations that interfered with lawful use by imposing a permit requirement that defendant could revoke without regard to plaintiff's MMMA-compliant conduct. Further, the trial court correctly ruled that defendant's zoning ordinance also permitted what the MMMA prohibited by allowing defendant to impose penalties regardless of plaintiff's MMMA-compliant conduct. Accordingly, the trial court did not err by ruling that a direct conflict existed between defendant's ordinance and the MMMA resulting in the MMMA's preemption of plaintiff's home-occupation ordinance.
Defendant's argument that the MMMA does not preempt its ordinance because the MMMA does not occupy the field of zoning fails; the trial court never based its ruling on field preemption of zoning, nor did the trial court need to consider the field-preemption doctrine. Rather, the trial court correctly determined that doctrine inapplicable to this case because the ordinance directly conflicted with the MMMA and was preempted for that reason alone. Moreover, as this Court explained in
Miller
,
We affirm.
Hoekstra, P.J., and Murphy and Markey, JJ., concurred.
The MMMA was amended by
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.