Based on the context provided for the Hastings Planning Commission meeting, here is the transcribed text with speaker names assigned. [0:00] **John Hinzman (Community Development Director):** ...for the Constitution of the United States of America. [0:02] **New Commissioners (In Unison):** The Constitution of the State of Minnesota. [0:04] **John Hinzman:** Constitution of the State of Minnesota... [0:06] **New Commissioners:** ...and the charter and ordinances of the city of Hastings. [0:09] **John Hinzman:** Ordinances of the city of Hastings. [0:11] **New Commissioners:** And then I will faithfully discharge the duties of planning commissioner for the city of Hastings. [0:19] **John Hinzman:** And that will faithfully discharge the duties of planning commissioner for the city of Hastings. [0:24] **New Commissioners:** Counties of Dakota and Washington, state of Minnesota. [0:27] **John Hinzman:** ...of Dakota and Washington and the state of Minnesota... [0:30] **New Commissioners:** ...according to the best of my ability and understanding. [0:34] **John Hinzman:** According to the best of my ability and understanding. [0:47] **John Hinzman:** And now we'll elect a chair and a vice chair for 2026. All commissioners that have served at least one year on the commission are eligible to serve. Um, that would be Commissioner Peters, McGrath, and Swedin. Nominations and seconds may be made by any commissioner. They can be made as a single motion together or as two separate motions. [1:05] **John Moes:** We have a little discussion? [1:07] **John Hinzman:** Yeah. Uh, we should be able to do that. [1:10] **John Moes:** Because I’m not eligible, but um would one of you three want to be the chair instead of—or vice chair? Is there anybody that’s opposed to having one of those positions? [1:36] **Rachel Swedin:** So, I feel like my schedule is the least reliable. So, I would serve—I'd be happy to serve as a vice chair or not at all. Um, but I don't think I'm best positioned this year as chair, just because we have a lot of transitions. But I will support any nomination made. [1:56] **Melanie Peters:** I'm happy to do one of the positions. I don't really have a strong preference either way. I printed notes for anybody who needs them for running a meeting because last time we needed them, and that's what I've got. [Laughter] [2:11] **Missy McGrath:** I feel the same way. So, I don't think it really matters. Would Commissioner Peters—since you're the one that has the most seniority—would you like to do chair, and then Swedin could do vice chair? [2:25] **Melanie Peters:** Let's do it. [2:27] **Rachel Swedin:** Yeah, you guys. Okay. [2:30] **Missy McGrath:** Okay. I'd like to make a motion to have Commissioner Peters be the chair and Swedin be the vice chair. [2:38] **Jennifer Silber:** Second. [2:40] **John Hinzman:** All in favor? [2:42] **Commissioners:** Aye. [2:56] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Thank you for the notes. It's really hard to remember what to say. All right. Well, first of all, congratulations and welcome to our newest planning commission members. The next item on the agenda is the minutes. But the November 24th minutes were not the ones in the packet. So we'll just table that until next time. And then we have the agenda. All right. The public hearing for the Spiral Foods Co-op. [3:30] **John Hinzman:** Thank you very much. Um, the planning commission is asked to review this request for Spiral Foods Co-op to have retail sales of lower potency hemp edible products at 1250 South Frontage Road. This is an allowable use in the C4 zoning district by special use permit, which requires a public hearing tonight. Notification of the public hearing was posted and mailed to all property owners within 350 ft of the address. Staff has not received any comments yet. [4:15] In addition to holding the public hearing, the planning commission will review the request and make a recommendation to the city council. A special use permit is one that is not likely appropriate in a district without restrictions as to the number, area, location, and/or without individual review for conditions that assure compatibility with the area. [4:30] This is a picture of the location. The lower potency retail uses must be 500 feet from other of the same uses and 500 feet from full-strength cannabis uses. General retail sales are allowed at this location by the zoning ordinance and it's in line with the comprehensive plan. The site is surrounded by other commercial uses. The subject location is an existing business in a strip center with two other tenants. The applicant has stated that they have acquired a lower potency hemp edibles retail license from the State of Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management. [5:12] Prior to approval of a special use permit, the board must make findings that certify compliance with the rules applicable to that request. The current request requires that the site meets the 500 ft minimum distance requirement between retail uses. Lower potency hemp edible products are permitted for sale between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. seven days a week. The store is generally open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Adequate parking was confirmed during a recent building remodeling project and this request does not change the requirements. [5:52] The security plan that was submitted was approved by the Hastings Police Department which outlines their improvements and procedures that safeguard the use from becoming a hazard. There's certain sign restrictions for these types of businesses, including two or fewer signs. No blinking or flashing signs and interior signs may not be visible from the exterior of the building. [6:25] The proposal appears generally compatible with the adjacent properties and other properties in the district and there's no anticipated changes that would likely affect the pedestrian safety, convenient traffic flow and control, or access for fire or catastrophe. Staff recommends approval of the special use permit based on the findings and the conditions that are included in the staff report. At this time the commission can open up the public hearing for comment or I can stand for any questions. [7:04] **Jennifer Silber:** Can I ask questions first? Is that okay? [7:10] **John Hinzman:** Yep. [7:11] **Jennifer Silber:** Um, I'm just wondering if they open at 9:00 and you can't sell till 10:00, will it just stay locked or...? [7:21] **John Hinzman:** Yeah, they wouldn't be able to sell it until those times. [7:25] **Jennifer Silber:** Till then, it'll just stay locked up. Okay, that was my only question. [7:30] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Any other questions? We'll come back and we can talk about it amongst ourselves, too. Um, but are we ready to open the public hearing? Okay. Then the next item is a public hearing for the special use permit for low potency hemp edible retailer at Spiral Foods Co-op at 1250 South Frontage Road. So open the public hearing. Is there anyone who'd like to come up and speak on the issue? [8:00] **Matt Mollik (Applicant):** Sure. [8:02] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Please come on up to the microphone and then introduce yourself and give us your first and last name and your address. [8:08] **Matt Mollik:** Sure. My name is Matt Mollik. I'm the general manager of Spiral Food Co-op in Hastings. I've been there for the past 10 years. I currently reside at 824 Fremont Street East in Northfield, Minnesota. Um, so Spiral Food Co-op has been around for—we're coming up on 47 years in the community. Currently, we sell a lot of wellness supplements and whatnot. We have actually sold hemp low potency products here for a couple years now. [8:45] Before the law changed in 2022, we were very restricted, and then we changed any of the products that we carried when the law changed in 2022. We were inspected by the Department of Cannabis before any of the actual laws took place. We were found to be in accordance with what was there. So I feel like at this point we've been pretty reliable. We've only worked with reps and with brands that have actually been forthcoming in ingredients. Really we're not really looking for anything other than the items that we had been selling were less than 0.3%, but the way the law is written, I still have to go ahead and submit that regardless. [9:31] And then if we do want to choose to offer something like a 5 milligram or something like that in a beverage or whatnot, then we would change in accordance. And to your question about the—we open at 9:00 and selling at 10:00—we can actually lock that down within our point of sale system so that no transactions could happen until such a time. Do you have any questions for me? [10:05] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Um, we'll get to that in just a moment. We have to close the public hearing first unless—is there anyone online for the public hearing? Okay. Um, then we'll close the public hearing and then commissioners will open up for discussion. And if you wouldn't mind staying there just in case we have questions for you. [10:19] **Matt Mollik:** Certainly. [10:23] **Missy McGrath:** Um, I don't have a question, but I just want to thank you for the information that you offered. I found that very helpful and it was good clarity. Thank you. [10:35] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Anyone else? I did have one question. I noticed that currently you will not have beverages for sale. Correct? Um, but I did notice that the gummies will be locked in behind the register. If you do bring beverages in, what's the plan for having access to the beverages? [10:55] **Matt Mollik:** It's a good question. Um, when I've spoken with others—and of course there's a couple co-ops in the Twin Cities and so a number of them do carry these same items—depending on the local ordinances the results can be different. But we do have the ability—if we're looking at a refrigerated solution—first of all, those beverages would not be in with the rest of our regular beverage set so that somebody couldn't accidentally make a choice that wouldn't be appropriate for what they're looking for. Uh, we do have the opportunity to purchase cases that are lockable and refrigeratable, and that's what we'd be looking at in those circumstances. We'd want to make sure that that would be next to our cash registers as close as they can be because it would require a cashier to confirm the actual age of the person first of all and then, just like with the other items, be able to unlock and get those items out for that individual. So that's how we proceed moving forward. [11:58] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Thank you. [12:00] **Matt Mollik:** Mm-hmm. [12:01] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Any other questions or discussion? [12:05] **John Moes:** How long have you been selling the cannabis products prior or...? [12:10] **Matt Mollik:** Well, because there was no straight-ahead law before anything, uh, we actually started selling them about 8 years ago. [12:15] **John Moes:** Okay. And then for ID, do you ID every individual or what's the policy for that? [12:25] **Matt Mollik:** We do have a policy of identifying. First of all, it'll be a prompt within our point of sale system. We've already tested this. We just did that conversion last week and uh we are still fixing things today. However, that being said, that is one thing that works. So, what is required is that they actually have to view ID. Now, there are some fast and loose out there, like "Well, if they look like they're over 40," and I don't really buy into any of that, honestly. Yes, I'm gonna make grandma bring out her ID and my cashiers are held to that same standard. [13:58] **Nicole DePalma:** Hi, Matt. Um, forgive me if this seems like a silly question, but I honestly don't know. Um, you all have a wonderful deli within your store. And when it comes to consuming, say a beverage, does that have to be taken off the premises or how does that work to consume these items? [14:24] **Matt Mollik:** That's a great question and honestly I hadn't much thought about it to be frank. Um, so let me just ask to clarify: what you're asking is could I grab lunch and could I then go ahead and take that product and consume it there? Um, personally I would say if we're talking about beverages, since we haven't approached it, it's a great question. Uh, I think that it's fair to say that if it is of a dosage that would be considered an intoxicant, then I would say no. Um, and in fact, otherwise we get into a grayer area. So, I think I would just firmly ask that people just not drink those beverages in our counter or lunch area because we're not a bar and we're not looking to get to be one. [15:17] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** All right. Any other questions? All right. Then I'll entertain a motion. [15:26] **Rachel Swedin:** Motion to approve special use permit for Spiral Foods Co-op. [15:34] **Jennifer Silber:** Second. [15:36] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** So, we have a motion by Commissioner Swedin and a second by Commissioner Silber. Um, all in favor? [15:42] **Commissioners:** Aye. [15:45] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Opposed? All right, we'll consider that passed and that will go to the City Council. [15:54] **John Hinzman:** Yep. The City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 20th because of Martin Luther King Day. Thank you all. [16:05] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Yeah, thank you so much for coming in. All right. Um, next item. New business or other business. Um, well, the City Council had passed the amendment to the lower potency hemp edible ordinance and a special use permit for the Spiral Brewery for manufacturing, and a home occupation permit for taxidermy for 714 13th Street. Um, the Planning Commission will likely be holding a public hearing for another special use permit um at our next meeting. I think it's on the 26th? [16:45] **John Hinzman:** 20th. Yep. [16:46] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Yep. Um, for 275 33rd Street West for climate-controlled storage. And that's all I have. [16:54] **Rachel Swedin:** And then there was also an email that we received about a training on February 4th, I think. Did everyone receive that? Check your email. [17:09] **John Moes:** As long as we got so many new members and we've got a little time, can we just have everyone introduce themselves quickly? Would that be okay? [17:27] **Melanie Peters:** I guess I can start. I'm Melanie Peters and I've been um part of the planning commission since I think January of 2021 and live in Hastings um kind of out by Cannon Park. [17:45] **Missy McGrath:** I'm Melissa McGrath and I have been a part of the planning commission—I was hoping you would reference back to when you started. [Laughter] I think it was 2023. and um part of the Hastings community and I'm up in the Windham Hills area. [18:05] **John Moes:** John Moes and I've been on the planning commission uh just since March of this year. I live in the Windham Hills area. I was born in Hastings and moved away for a few years and back and I'm glad to be part of this committee. So, thank you all. [18:23] **Jennifer Silber:** Um I'm Jennifer Silber. I'm new to the planning commission. I run the Bar Draft House and Green to Go dispensary on Vermillion Street and I live in the middle of town near Walgreens. [18:41] **Angela Montgomery:** I'm Angela Montgomery. I've been a Hastings resident for about 20 years now. Um I have 17-year-old twin girls at the high school. They are juniors. Um my husband and I built a house down in "Cow Town" in 2019 in the East Enders development and um excited, new to the planning commission and just to join all of you. [19:07] **Nicole DePalma:** Hi everybody. I'm Nicole DePalma. Um I'm new to our commission. Um started in August. I was lucky enough to serve three full terms with the Parks and Rec Commission and that was a ball. I enjoyed every minute of it. I have a business here in town and my better half and I live here in Hastings on the corner of 17th and Maple Street. [19:31] **Rachel Swedin:** Hi, I'm Rachel Swedin. Um, I started in January of 2024 on the commission. Um, I've only been a Hastings resident for about three and a half years. Um, and yeah, I like it a lot here, though. I live in the downtownish area around here. [19:51] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Thanks everyone. That was a great suggestion. Thank you for doing that. All right. Well, then if there's no other business, is there a motion to adjourn? [20:01] **Missy McGrath:** I will make a motion to adjourn. [20:05] **Nicole DePalma:** I will second. [20:06] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** All right. Motion by Commissioner McGrath, second by Commissioner DePalma. All in favor? [20:09] **Commissioners:** Aye. [20:10] **Melanie Peters (Chair):** Great work.