Water Leak, Housing Costs and Cannabis Debate Drive Busy Council Meeting
- 33 minutes ago
- 1 min read
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Verndale City Council held their regular meeting on Monday, May 11. New City Council Member Heather Ewert was sworn in.
Cannabis Ordinance
The city is tightening a new cannabis and low‑potency hemp ordinance. Council members directed staff to require that age‑compliance checks be handled by the county, not city staff, and to remove fixed sales hours for low‑potency hemp products, since those are already sold in existing businesses. The ordinance will set the maximum registration fees allowed by law, strictly limit where cannabis businesses can locate using buffers, 1,000 feet from schools and 500 feet from day cares, parks and residential districts. When those circles are drawn on the zoning map, almost all of town is blocked out, leaving only very small stretches of commercially zoned land where a state‑licensed cannabis retailer could legally locate. And it gives the city authority to suspend registrations and levy civil penalties for violations. A revised draft will be reviewed by the city attorney before coming back for final council approval...
