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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes June l 1, 2024 Page 5 1 One aspect of the City's regulation to note is personal cannabis use, which was legalized by the 2 2023 legislation, and took effect in August of last year. As part of that process, the City 3 separately established a prohibition on smoking in public places, which is applicable to any 4 smoking or product. That aspect of the City's regulation is not further addressed by the materials 5 for this review. 6 7 As additional guidance and requirements are adopted by the Office of Cannabis Management 8 and/or the League of Minnesota Cities, additional changes or amendments are likely to follow 9 this proposed amendment. 10 I 1 Staff requests that the City Council consider adoption of the Ordinance 2024-03. As a zoning 12 regulation, it may be adopted in a single reading, or the Council may consider the item over three 13 readings as is common to other Ordinance amendments as desired. Staff recommends that the 14 moratorium ordinance enacted in August continue in force as further materials are generated by 15 the State of Minnesota over the next several months. 16 17 The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed regulations and ordinance at their meeting in 18 April and then at a public hearing on May 21, 2024. No members of the public submitted 19 comments, nor were any present to comment at the hearing. 20 21 The Commission voted to recommend approval of the proposed ordinance, with the bulk of the 22 discussion centered on the prospective buffer distance between commercial childcare facilities 23 and any cannabis retailer. The statute permits the City to create a buffer of up to 500 feet for such 24 facilities. The Planning Commission believes that this distance was overly restrictive, given the 25 nature of the uses, and the mapping of potential exclusion zones if adopted to the fullest extent. 26 Following its discussion, the Commission recommended a separation buffer of 100 feet between 27 cannabis retailers and licensed commercial childcare facilities. 28 29 Mr. Grittman provided a detailed background and review including Land Use Aspects of 30 Cannabis Legalization, and Local Limitations. The primary zoning separation requirements 31 would apply to the daycare facilities in the south portion of St. Anthony as follows: 32 33 • 3055 Old Hwy 8 (Ikram Child Care) — Any exclusion distance for the daycare facilities 34 at 3055 Old Hwy 8 would result in a prohibition of retail sales for other potential 35 commercial/industrial uses on that site. Depending on the separation distance chosen, the 36 industrial property south of Highway 88 could be impacted — the closest distance to 37 those areas appears to be approximately 270 feet. 38 39 • 2812 Anthony Lane South (Jack and Jill Preschool and Childcare) — This daycare parcel 40 is located in an industrial park area. Exclusion of cannabis businesses of any distance 41 will impact some potential retail locations, primarily as a part of a "micro-" or "mezzo-" 42 business which does some form of industrial processing and proposes to also sell retail 43 products as an aspect of the business. The number of parcels impacted will depend on 44 the separation distance chosen. 45