Getting Greener

Highland Park spans a small area and is surrounded by the city of Detroit. The city is only 2.969 square miles, but could see rejuvenation from a new, greener industry that is planned to replace its post-industrial landscape. The metropolitan Detroit area in general is quickly shifting from its traditional backbone automotive industry into the limitless medical cannabis industry. The Highland Park Chamber of Commerce (HPCC) welcomes cannabis businesses and is working with city council and the mayor to draft an ordinance that allows commercial cannabis businesses.

“The Highland Park Chamber of Commerce supports the cannabis industry in most regards, and we actively represent a consortium of client members and welcome all aspects of the industry to join our Chamber.”

Highland Park is known for its autonomous laws that were forged nearly 100 years ago in 1918. Still to this day, Highland Park operates as its own incorporated entity. “Highland Park and Hamtramck are the only cities in the metro area that are completely surrounded by Detroit,” Rodger Penzabene, Chairman and CEO of the HPCC, told CULTURE. “The history of that goes back to Henry Ford, when he founded the Ford Motor Co. here in Highland Park. He didn’t want to pay taxes to Detroit, so he incorporated Highland Park as a city, and the Dodge brothers did the same thing in Hamtramck.” The Chrysler Corporation was also born in Highland Park.

Penzabene is ready to get the word out that Highland Park is ready for cannabis. “[Recently] I spoke with the Mayor-elect Hubert Yopp. He personally told me that the city [is interested in the idea of] opting in,” Penzabene confided. Since the city’s charter is currently under revision, an ordinance can’t be drafted until the charter comes back with an approval from Bill Schuette, the state’s Attorney General. Penzabene has been in negotiations with city officials to bring an industrial grow operation there—a 30,000 square foot building.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification developed by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and rates buildings based on design and construction. “We have a property in Highland Park that is 60,000 square feet, a former nursing home which will be our chamber headquarters,” Penzabene explained. “We plan on going all green with LEED energy. We’re going to use permeable concrete using is HempCrete.” The HPCC wants the building to be a model of what could happen in other construction projects.

Because of zoning restrictions, and the size of Highland Park, only a handful of medical cannabis businesses would fit inside the city. A few research and development labs are interested is setting up in Highland Park. “I was told that Highland Park would try to support three provisionary centers,” Penzabene added. Highland Park is small, but it is centrally located in a prime area.

The chamber wants a more upscale, boutique dispensary and business model. It doesn’t get much cooperation from the city council. The city council has a slightly different vision, but the mayor’s office is on board, according to Penzabene.

The Chamber itself is pro-cannabis. “The HPCC supports the cannabis industry in most regards, and we actively represent a consortium of client members and welcome all aspects of the industry to join our Chamber,” Penzabene concluded.