Residents Don't Want Verndale to be Cannabis Destination
- 18 minutes ago
- 1 min read
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Verndale City Council held their regular meeting on June 8.
Cannabis Business Ordinance
The council approved the new ordinance required after Minnesota legalized cannabis and effectively told cities to set local rules within state guidelines.
Mayor Tara Erckenbrack explained that the goal is not to recruit new cannabis businesses but to regulate what state law already allows, mainly by mirroring state setbacks from schools, daycares, parks, and residential areas and by issuing local licenses similar to liquor and tobacco.
Brian Hagen joined by phone to question the need for local license fees, arguing small businesses are already heavily burdened by state fees, high property taxes, and other local licenses, and that adding another recurring fee—around $125 for low‑potency THC—could further strain them when the ordinance and enforcement infrastructure are already in place.
Council members countered that a fee is reasonable to cover administrative work by the city clerk, to track who is selling these products in town, and to support compliance efforts coordinated with the county, emphasizing that the proposed fee is on the low end compared to other business licenses.
They clarified that low‑potency THC (gummies, drinks, etc.) is largely state‑controlled and cannot be capped in number locally, but full cannabis retailers can be limited by both number of licenses and where they locate, and a mapping exercise showed only a tiny sliver of commercially zoned area—described jokingly as about a “three‑by‑three‑foot” spot—where a full cannabis shop could legally operate under all the required buffers...
