The Dexter Village Council unanimously postponed a final vote on allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in the village Monday night after Council member Jim Smith requested that village officials contact four neighboring townships to see if they are interested in crafting a common ordinance.

Representatives from Dexter and the four townships, Dexter, Lima, Scio and Webster, have been meeting for several years as the Dexter Area Regional Team (DART) to discuss common regional issues.

Allison Bishop, the village’s community development director, said that Dexter Township is the only one of the municipalities that is actively working on a medical marijuana ordinance.

Though he eventually voted with the rest of council to postpone implementing the ordinance, Jim Carson noted Dexter is the only municipality in the group with a downtown. He said the village’s Planning Commission, at council's direction, had spent a lot of time developing the proposed ordinance that would allow and regulate dispensaries in certain areas of the C-1 (commercial) zoning district in the village.

“The Planning Commission came back to the Village Council two times and said this is where we are on this ordinance,” Carson said. “Not a single council member told us not to proceed. We were encouraged to continue at least twice and the Planning Commission has conducted public hearings.”

Currently, the proposed new zoning code would allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the village.

The first step in the process, Smith said, would be to contact all Dexter’s neighbors to determine if there is any interest. Then village officials would set up a timeframe for possible meetings.

The village has a moratorium on dispensaries that’s in effect until March 21, but the council agreed that if there is interest from neighboring municipalities, that could be extended.

On Nov. 4, 2008, Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana by a 63 percent margin statewide. Washtenaw County approved the measure by 71 percent. Several area municipalities, including Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti have established or are working to establish ordinances regulating medical marijuana. Some communities, including Saline and Chelsea have decided to ban dispensaries.

The village and Dexter, Webster and Scio townships are currently working together on a regional fire department that would combine the Dexter and Scio fire departments.