ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Some people living in Orion Township say their neighborhoods reek of marijuana.
An industrial complex located on Premier Road is the culprit, according to the city's supervisor.
"We are the marijuana community now," said Matt Skoda, a resident of Orion Township. "We don't want to be known as that."
Skoda chose Orion Township to live and raise a family. He says it was a quiet, generally unproblematic suburb until a couple of weeks ago.
"You're smelling marijuana constantly. It's become a problem. We've heard some kids have had headaches, but mainly it's just that this isn't Lake Orion, this isn't why we're here," Skoda said.
The source of the smell is a set of grow operations in the Oakland Business Park on Premier Road near Lapeer Road. At least four marijuana growers operate out of there, Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett said.
"We've had these facilities in our community for several years and virtually had no complaints," Barnett said. "So we think we had an isolated issue, and the good news for our residents is we have one of the strictest ordinances on the books."
7 Action News asked Barnett to explain exactly what it is grow operations are adhering to.
"The ordinance is clear that they have to have air scrubbers. The smell should not be migrating off of their property, and that really has been the case," Barnett said.
One of the owners of the park told us the smell was coming from one area of the building in particular. In a statement, Michael Stevens said:
"There was an issue with the mechanical system with a short-term tenant in one of the suites in the industrial park. The mechanical system wasn’t properly filtering the odor. They worked to fix it quickly, having teams of people literally working around the clock. While they were fixing to fix the mechanical system, they took other immediate steps to mitigate the smell. Also, they were communicating with any residents that complained. The issues have been resolved and the smell to the neighbors should be gone."
-Michael Stevens
Barnett said the ordinance department is well aware of what's going on and employees have been out in neighborhoods checking in with residents who had complaints.
"No business should trump residents' property values and we certainly feel that way in Orion Township, so we have very responsive businesses in this space," Barnett said. "And I've been in contact with all of them."
As of Wednesday, the smell was still strong on the complex's property, but the residents we spoke to have told us it's no longer noticeable in their neighborhoods.
The city says they are taking these concerns very seriously and plan to follow up with owners to make sure the situation is remedied and stays that way.
