e e e e e e e all right all right Planning Commission special meeting 5:00 pm. Thursday February 13
2025 first item is special meeting notice that went out do I need to do anything with that don't need to do anything with that just to to note that there was a notice signed by the chair that went out to the public okay so we will go on to number two call the
order the new business number 3.1 would be to consider the ordinance amending appendix a to the New Alm city code to establish zoning districts and use specific standards for cannabis and hemp
business look for staff report all right uh John nisley planner with the city of newm um thanks for coming to this special meeting because we will be having our regular meeting here at the last Thursday of the month as well so we're doubling up this
February um so this uh is a public hearing on an ordinance Amendment uh amending appendix a city zoning ordinance to the city code uh of new establishing zoning District districts and youth specific standards for cannabis and hemp businesses uh within
the city the applicant is the new Al city council uh there is no deadline for a decision on this matter um the zoning designations in which this uh zoning Amendment will affect would be the B2 General business district the B3
community business district the B4 Central business district or the downtown area the i1 planned industrial district the I2 General industrial uh district and the AOS the agricultural open space uh zoning District um public
hearing uh was noticed and published on the February 1st 2025 edition of the journal to date staff has not received any comments uh or contact from the public regarding this zoning Amendment did want to provide just a brief
background on how we got to this point uh with the development of the ordinance so chapter 342 of Minnesota state law was established by the state legislature in 2023 and it was updated in 2024 regulating uh the adult use cannabis and
Associated products and businesses through this presentation I'm going to use the abbreviation of au instead of saying adult use cannabis all the time just so you know that um on January 31st 2025 City staff presented to the Planning Commission an outline of the
state's Au regulations terms and potential zoning regulations for us to consider here in newm uh staff provided the planning commission's direction to the city attorney to help develop uh Au Zone uh an au zoning ordinance
Amendment uh the drafted ordinance includes includes buffer distances from schools daycares residential treatment facilities parks and defines different cannabis business uses uh generally the ordinance was
developed following similar similar uses uh already regulated in the city zoning ordinances City zoning ordinance such as a brewery Distillery Brew brew pub and uh micro Distillery
um uh I would note though that prior to this the uh City even even uh getting to the point of uh regul U permitting one of these types of businesses the state licensing requirements state that they
have to first check in uh with the city to see if the zoning designation fits where they're proposing their use um so I would just note that part of their licensing process is getting the zoning verification prior to getting licensed by the state of
Minnesota um and I would also uh i' like to do something a little different than rather just reading through my staff report and talking about where um what we're considering uh the different uses in the different zoning districts I did create a a chart here up on the screen that makes it a little bit more Visual
and easier to understand so uh the way the ordinance is currently uh written or drafted is uh I have the Cannabis uses on the side and then the different zoning districts uh where they may be permitted not permitted or conditionally
permitted um so for cannabis retail uh the city's considering permitting it in the B2 B3 and B4 zoning districts as a permitted use and only as a conditional
use permit uh uh in the i1 and I2 zoning districts that would be the same uh as we would do for Distillery or Brewery in those districts if they were to have something like a tap room or they could sell some small amount of retail on the
site uh we did that with um black Frost theiling they're an industrial district uh they're largely manufacturing on that site but they do have a tap room and do sell some retail so they to get a conditional use permit for that um and then it wouldn't be per uh retail wouldn't be permitted in the
agricultural open space uh zoning District delivery would only be uh permitted in the i1 and I2 as well as manufacturing testing facilities trans Transportation wholesale and hemp
manufacturing um cultivation both indoors and outdo Outdoors uh we're only considering um for um permitting that in the agricultural open space Sonia districts I'd note that I tried to uh look at four other communities that are
similar to new almond size uh oana Marshall um I also uh looked at North Mano and Albert Lee generally speaking the the zoning Provisions that we're proposing here today follow right in
line uh with those other communities I would note that some of them maybe are even a little bit more lenient than than what we're proposing here today um so uh in addition to uh updates uh or
updates to these certain tables in the zoning ordinance um we'd also be providing uh a number of new definitions uh in the city zoning ordinance and that would be uh defining uh cannabis cultivation
indoors cannabis cultivation Outdoors cannabis delivery cannabis manufacturing cannabis retail cannabis testing facility cannabis Transportation cannabis wholesale and hemp manufacturing I could go through and read all those definitions if you would
like but generally speaking the uh the title itself kind of explains what the uses is uh anyway um so those are the major changes uh that we're being uh that we're proposing here so we're updating our use tables
throughout the zoning ordinance to include these different types of uses and the types uh of how we're going to permit it either permit it uh just outright or conditionally permit them um there are though would note uh
specific you specific standards that are going to be consistent uh across all of these different types of uses um and what I mean by that is um any sort of cannabis business has to comply with the state of Minnesota
licensing regulations um they all are required to meet the buffer that were uh we're setting forth which is uh one can't be within 1,000 ft of a school 500 F feet of a daycare Residential Treatment Facility or within 500 ft of
an attraction within a park that is regularly used by miners including playgrounds and athletic fields so for the city's purposes though we're just uh buffering from the entire park boundaries uh with within our city so that applies to all cannabis uh
proposed cannabis uses um I would also note that if they're doing indoor or outdoor cultivation there's certain regulations that they're already having to follow for security purposes from the state before they'll be issued a license to do that type of cultivation we're requiring
to have proof of that uh you know proof of that uh security that they're going to be providing if they are going to be do cultivation at all and this the state would check with us uh again for that zoning verification before they'd issue that license okay give me one second
so the uh staff considers uh the amendment uh or what sorry the proposed amendments are being recommended by staff to uh incorporate zoning regulations for new cannabis businesses that are now Allowed by the state of Minnesota uh this amendment would
address an arising need from uh a change in condition Trend or fact uh within the city um I had three attachments uh with your staff reports we have the proposed ordinance orance uh which goes through those changes just noted um showing
where in the ordinance those would be amended in the different sections um we have a map um showing those areas let me just pull it up for everybody where these businesses could
be permitted outside of the buffers it's this map right here I would note that these hatched are as um are in the agricultural open space zoning District but they're parked so they
wouldn't be um allowed in those areas um and then we also had the staff completed uh findings of fact and that's that's in your packets as well go ahead is there only one B1 District or there
so our B1 district is very small okay and it's t it's right around the downtown area yeah and one of the reasons we didn't include that for for consideration at all is is a that it's small um and two uh those B1 districts
are really the transition zone from residential into the commercial area and if we um we wouldn't like to put one of these businesses uh or retail businesses in that zoning District the U the graphic you are showing us and the one in our packet was
different is that correct miss it or that's correct I updated this one this afternoon to show uh because we had we've been making a bunch of maps uh for the uh for the Cannabis regulations this is the most
current um map and accurate map that we have all right the one I showed you at the at the last meeting uh didn't include the AOS um zoning District in it at all we've updated this map to include that this is the map that we would like to use as a
reference yeah so this map only has the buffering from the parks not from daycare and nope this has buffering from the daycare okay y so can I follow up on that the list of those uses from which we can buffer or um apply buffers is
that complete the state gave us a list and we using the whole list yes okay and we're using their maximum allowance of buffers we can go under that as a but we we're not supposed to go over that all right John is it set in the stone then that we would have to revise this say in
three years or five years the state comes up with another reg do we would we have to redo this again or this is once they did this it's grandfathered in or I mean it's adopted so if the state changes their regulations they would ask
the they would do what they're doing now and ask the local uh entities uh municipalities to implement Implement those regulations we would adjust our zoning regulations accordingly okay I'm going to go back to a earlier
statement it says in page one that there is no really time limit for us to establish these boundaries what does that do to the poor souls that are out there like trying to license themselves
with the state and great question um so we we had asked our City attorney too because they're working with other municipalities where we're at in the process compared to other cities um we're maybe a little behind schedule but we're kind of kind of in line with where everybody else is at the state's going
to start issuing licenses and correct me if I'm wrong uh between February 8 are they're going to start taking in applications come on please the state there's 162 businesses have already been licensed they've you
will be receiving a license as soon as they change their verbiage and their rules on was it 342 yeah they're adding laws on changing this changing that but once they get those set in stone there's 162 micro businesses that will be receiving their stuff we will be putting
our application in on February 18th so Tuesday so and then however long it takes to get back I have no idea it's government right can uh can I have you please state your name and address for the record please 37055 561st Avenue Lafayette okay when
you say we that's you and your partner or we have a a partnership so there is Todd Christensen from new home and then his wife is involved in it as well Sarah and Ted ol Y is also involved in it okay
so you guys have any other questions on stuff I I do yes okay go for it um this probably is for for John I wonder if you could explain to me what it means to be an accessory use is like a percent of of gross or net
or what so in the industrial zoning District you retail is conditionally permitted as an accessory use I'm not sure what that means sure so so in our zoning ordinance uh for it to be an accessory use it would be um it would be
lesser it it would be only in a addition to what is permitted on the property okay so what I mean by that is it's not the primary use on the property um and let's go back to the Distillery for instance um let's say uh they're doing
manufacturing but they also have a tap room we would say that well really your Tap Room is your your TAP room's you know 50% of the building and you're only using a little bit uh for manufacturing we have to take a closer look at that is is The Tap Room an accessory use um or
not um or like in our residential zoning districts your primary use is your residence uh your accessory use could be a garage or shed in the backyard okay and then another this is sort of a detail again but is is there going to be
local Licensing in addition to the state license it's a great question um so there's kind of two things happening here at once there's the zoning regulations that that the planning commission's reviewing and then there'll also have to be uh licensing amendments in the city code the city council um
will be the ones making the decision on the licensing requirements and it would be in there where we will specify the number of licenses that the city would issue okay would John when we specify those licensing and then would we in our just
say if it came to Council in our motion then we would designate that we would go to our ordinances or our comp plan or our map these locations basically is what we're adopting as a council am I saying that
correctly um so the the council will be doing the licensing very similar to the way they'd issue liquor licenses um if you were an establishment and has have a liquor license in New um you also have to abide by the zoning regulations in
which that's located so it's it they they do go hand inand um and a lot of times downstairs if there's a question question from the finance department if there's an issue with the location they'll ask us a question to verify okay perhaps my my only concern has been
um level of oversight and I understand that in other cities our size we're sort of outright permitting retail use in most all of the business districts but you did mention that in the B1 district one of the reason reasons why um it was being excluded
from permission is that it sort of is a transition zone it happens to be right in the middle of of a residential neighborhood and I feel that our B2 zoning district is similar and you pick the B2 District take the one on Seventh 7th Street north for example it's
completely surrounded by residential and so I think for the same reason that we're a little more cautious um in the B1 District perhaps in the B2 we should be considering additional use permit okay and that's all I
have would also note that the B1 District you is also located the Brown County Family Service Center is in a B1 District we have an apartment complex on the north end of town that was in a B1
District so um besides um the original idea behind the B1 district is was to be a trans transitional zone between the downtown and the surrounding residential area it actually has been used in other
applications as well um some of which would not you know be appropriate for for this type of use obviously are you permitting alcohol use on those districts no well and that's that's why we're here um presenting this ordinance if the
Planning Commission wishes to make any changes um to this this is this is the time and place to discuss it and make those changes John and are permitted where you just said permitted so that's all this by conditional use permit or is it an interm permit or any type of or it's
just it's permitted means it's it's a use that's allowed there there's no special permitting by the city could you explain to me the difference or now all the local bars are allowed to
sell the marijuana or cannabis enhanced beverages correct at the present time it's the way I understand it now how that is all uh legally Works um I'm not that's kind of how I'm trying to get
to my question I don't I I mean I'm trying to understand why we're putting everybody else through the ringer but yet the bars that already have it are are free to do what they it's essentially a legal loophole so all the Cannabis products that are being sold
like you can go to a gas station and get some gummies if you want to those are made with Delta 9 THC which is derived from hemp hemp is federally legal it's just the amount of THC that's in the plant so what you do is you grow a hemp you can only have a 3% THC in it versus
20% THC in it with the cannabis plant and so it's a 32 of cannabis it's yeah is that is that what you just said essentially yes you just have to use more of it to get to the point of what what you're going to get out of it okay
excent I hope it's not as Loosely monitored as the the 32 alcohol every every batch has to get tested everything that comes out we have to send for testing to the state we want a manufactur anything we have to tell
they do check for pesticides heavy metals you know anything that's going to make it look no mold we want to have safe product for people but every batch that you have gets tested and I believe it's like one out of 100 plants need to get sent in somewhere in there is is that the Department of Agriculture or
what testing uh licensed testing facilities through the state of Minnesota so like if we have some product that's bad we're do we have to do mandatory recalls I mean mandatory testing like we can't do anything with until it's
approved and then mind you guys too um if you guys have any worries about like security or plans or whatnot you can't get you can't start doing anything on that facility until you are inspected by the state so the state comes and inspects before you can do anything just so you guys are
aware so essentially according to your map the permitted areas or would be permitted for alcohol the only thing is the cup is on
the grower side or the business side such as The Distillery I'm going to use black Frost as as an example again those are the only cup areas my question is if what
would be an objection to putting it in an area if you're already allowing alcohol in that area so so the conditional use permit all your all your I'm just asking if all of your permitted areas correspond with
areas that it would be appropriate to serve alcohol in great question um the conditional use permit for retail uh is is just the industrial district and we would do that the same thing for the sale of alcohol in those
industrial districts so in all the business districts that we have alcohol is allowed the in the B2 B3 B4 and before the sale of alcohol is yeah okay I
just am trying to Def to decide um in my mind which there isn't much left of right now why we would hold the
Cannabis areas any different than we would the alcohol why we would restrict it more I agree with you I feel like it's on the same level and and the require it's C probably less because you can't
you you weren't you weren't consuming it on site are you correct there are certain micr Growers that's a certain permitted use where you can consume on on there but it's treated exactly exact same as a bar once you open it you can't leave with it you can't serve intoxicated people and
whatnot that does okay no yeah in micro you cannot do any smoking or vaping just so you know it's just Edibles or drinks okay but you would but essentially you could do you need a conditional use permit then if you're going to allow a special
room or is that still part of the permitted site of the b234 district for the city's purposes in those districts that would be the same as a bar okay I mean here's a a question you know
for a for a business like this that's going to sell us is what kind of hours of operation is this until 2 a.m. like bars or state allows us to be open until 2: a.m. I do not think that's a good idea like I think being open let's just say if we were downtown after bar closed
is a terrible idea especially in Winter because everybody's going to come in there and then you're going to end up with a bunch of drunk people that you have to deal with so I'd say we'd probably be open about the same as a liquor store so it's close 10 p.m. 11: p.m. somewhere in there but that doesn't mean that
somebody else couldn't come in and yeah absolutely John is that a common thing or is it has it been a subject of anything in other cities have you compared or any for of operation hours of operation uh they do have hours of operation typically again that's handled
to the licensing process um and the hours of operation have been from what I've seen in line with bars and restaurants how is the location of Smiley's Tavern what what is that District that on state the block of a
school yeah the those buildings have been there an incredibly long time but it wouldn't be the same thing where there's a bar there but there wouldn't be we wouldn't want to put this type of a business in that location I'm assum that's in a residential zoning District so we
wouldn't to even today if a bar were to ask to go into a residential zoning District we wouldn't allow that yeah you're the school isn't it too it is a new X is really close by there also the street has there been a lot of demand for or
questions has there been a lot of questions asked about coming to New besides the group that's represented here have we had no people knocking you said we're a little bit behind some other some other towns do you know are they looking at doing
similar things to what we're doing here in terms of how to Zone and yeah yeah yeah and actually you know when I say behind that's kind of relative the nice Advantage we have then is to take a look at what other communities are doing compare what we're proposing and then find a path forward and that's that's
what we've done exactly well John if we adopt this it it's permitted but you know say two years down the line we could change it say or amend it to conditional use permit in those areas or interm permit
if uh we feel it's not working or something's changed yeah yeah I mean we can always um you know there's a there's a process uh for amending the zoning ordinance just like what we're doing here today um and they
would have to go through that process to make any changes be a public hearing and and that type of but the cities that you've researched have just been permited is that what you're yeah surprisingly they're permitting the the retail sales um and and not
conditionally permitting those I'm just looking that we're consistent I guess you know and kind of we not you know here's here's the uh four cities that I was talking about um so North B is the only one that did a conditional use
permit for their downtown the other three Community communities all had them simply permitted the answer to those two questions that Larry just asked make me feel even better about it and like an said I don't know why we would make it more difficult for them than what we would make it for a bar I appreciate the
work you've done I think this all looks reasonable now and and it's been stated I believe at the last meeting but I want to how if if a daycare center decides to open up
um and in a building downtown um as they have to be explained or it's permitted because we've already passed this and so any daycare is given notice or you know that there's bars and
and I mean it's not like they have to move because the daycare center came in once this is passed the guide the the areas are established so there's no turning back basically
more or less have to police understand themselves I would note though too that if a daycare center were to to ask to go into the downtown that also would be a conditional use type of permit that we would have to issue in the downtown take
special consideration on that okay so if we adopt this here coming forward and say in two years uh you know another daycare went started here at school for instance here and then um you know we have two businesses and say a third one
wants to come to town but they've identified now on a location that we have a daycare or now a school in that area can they go there because when we originally adopted you know there was an old school or daycare in that vicinity
or you're saying uh there is will we update the buffer map yeah yeah we'll keep that we'll keep that accurate I should also note too anytime there's going to be some sort of Licensing from the state they need to verify again with the City Zoning uh to make sure that that's allowed in that district and at
that point in time we'd review the map um make sure it's accurate and that we would be allowed in in that location okay so it's the rules that apply not the map the map is adjust based on where businesses are right yeah
this this map is this map is a snapshot in time yeah that's right um but the buffers are the are the rule but if someone moves into the buffer after it's established we don't change it then
unless if if there's a cannabis business established and there is one of those uh areas that needs to be buffered from uh that wants to move into that area we would not be requiring the Cannabis business to move that's that's does that
understanding that you have to okay does the state deal with that the same way they require do they require an annual license I mean are they are you going to get caught in a yes annual annual renewal every year so is is the stake going to catch you then in a
pincher if the dayare moves in your license we're okay giving you license but they ask you if it's okay with the zoning map and we say you're in a buffer area I believe for your initial business they were going to check but I kind of would guess that once you're moved in there that that you're kind of there
already you know right I I would also note that's a good question because all of the buffers uh that we have um that were for recre uh treatment facilities schools and day carees are all also licensed by the state of Minnesota so they're checked there as well they're
probably going to have to add something else to their checklist to verify that they're U meeting meeting their own laws but they're also state state issued licenses okay any more questions I think it's good that we got
some conversation going here and intrigued with it anybody in the audience have any questions or comments uh and this is a public hearing so you want to do the finding of facts
before we do a motion why don't we go want me to read through the finding of facts I can go through the findings facts if you would like i' also like to note that uh this is the first part of an ordinance amendment process Planning Commission
May makes a recommendation to the city council if uh there's a recommendation made here today it'll go to the City Council next Tuesday for its first reading following that it could go to the next council meeting for the second reading and then there's a 30-day period of time where they can receive public
comment on any z uh zoning ordinance amendments and um if there's major changes being sought by the public it might come back to the city council uh for revision so sure you can go through the uh findings
effect if you'd like sure do you want me to read them John or how yeah that would be great if you read the question I'll answer them okay so number one in your opinion does the proposed amendment correct an error in the original text or map staff responded
no there was not a mistake in the zoning text or map that uh precipitated this proposed change Commissioners agree or disagree agree age all right number two in your opinion does the proposed amendment address needs arising from a
changing condition Trend or fact affecting the subject property and surrounding areas staff responded Yes that in 2023 the state of Minnesota wrote into law the adult uh use cannabis
legalization this law this law allows for adult use cannabis businesses to be located in communities throughout Minnesota uh the proposed zoning regulations are intended to regulate adult use cannabis businesses located uh that could be located within the city of
New Commissioners aged and number three in your opinion is the proposed amendment consistent with achieving the goals and objectives outlined in the comprehensive plan uh
staff responded Yes that the proposed amendment is consistent with achieving goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan uh this amendment would locate adults adult use cannabis businesses uh in the appropriate land use areas within the
City commissioners do you agree agree so that's the three questions there so we can uh get back here we have any if any other audience
have any other questions or I'll look at closing the public hearing and then I'll look for the Commissioners for uh motion to accept or motion to deny I make a motion to recommend approval of ordinance number two 2025
making um amendments to appendix a of the New Alm city code second all right all right we have a motion and a seconded to approve the recommendation of the ordinance amending appendix a of the newm city
code any further discussion all in favor signify by I I opposed motion carried and that should be it meeting adjourned thank you thank
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