FLINT, MI – City council will wait before moving forward with a new ordinance to curb drag racing and before selling a former police training facility to a company that wants to use the property to farm and transforming marijuana.

Council members referred the two proposals to the committees at their meeting on Monday, May 10, with the majority saying they still had questions on both counts.

The ordinance would declare drag racing a public nuisance in the city and allow the seizure and sale of vehicles, tools, equipment and trailers used in connection with racing vehicles.

A separate resolution would have allowed the sale of the closed Flint Police Training Academy on St. John Street to Evergrow LLC for $ 500,000. The company wants to convert the property into a commercial marijuana grow op.

Franko Sallaku, Evergrow’s managing partner, said on Monday he could wait a few weeks for board members to take a more detailed look at how the property was being advertised and offered for sale, but said: “He will be difficult to extend (his offer). than that. “

“Time is really running out,” Sallaku said. “It’s a race … to get to the market first.”

City officials said they were approached to sell the vacant property by Evergrow, advertised the 4.4-acre parcel for bids during a seven-day window and received only two bids – $ 500,000 from Evergrow and a separate bid. of $ 20,000 for the property.

The council postponed action on the sale despite a warning from Planning and Development department manager Suzanne Wilcox, who said the deal with Evergrow could collapse if the sale was delayed.

“The developer… has entrepreneurs lined up,” Wilcox said. “He has a schedule for doing this job. He is likely to move away.

Ward 1 councilor Eric Mays said he wanted to be assured that municipal land disposition policies were being followed, and council members Maurice Davis (Ward 2), Jerri Winfrey-Carter (Ward 5) , Herbert Winfrey (Ward 6) and Monica Galloway (Ward 7) agreed to postpone the proposed sale.

Ward 3 Councilor Santino J. Guerra, who represents the area where the property is located, and Ward 8 Councilor Allan Griggs opposed the postponement, and Councilors Kate Fields (Ward 4) and Eva Worthing (Ward 9) were absent for the vote.

Fields was removed from the meeting for failing to recognize a point of order raised by Mays earlier in the meeting and Worthing left before the end of Monday’s meeting, which lasted more than seven hours, before the vote.

The revised drag racing ordinance proposed by Mayor Sheldon Neeley was also delayed by a 6-0 vote. Fields, Worthing and Guerra were absent for this vote.

Guerra said street racing has become a growing problem in Flint.

“It’s getting back to … as bad as it was before, unfortunately,” Guerra said. “It may sound like fun and fun, however, cars do have car crashes. People get angry when they lose. “

Mays said he could propose changes to the order, including potential penalties for riders accused of drag racing, which would include the seizure of vehicles.

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