Based on the context of the municipality and the roles within the Farmington Planning Commission meeting, here is the transcribed text with speaker names assigned. **Note on Speakers:** * **Phil Snobak** is identified as the Chair (based on the roll call and leadership of the meeting). * **Tony Wippler** (City Planner/Planning Manager) is "Tony." * **Jared Aslakson** (City Planner) is "Jared." * **Commissioners** present include Windschitl, Teske, Roddy, and Leato. *** [0:00] [Music] [0:14] **Chair Phil Snobak:** All right, we call the meeting to order. On behalf of the Planning Commission, I’d like to welcome our residents and viewers to this regular meeting of December 10th, 2024. On tonight’s agenda, we have two public hearings. Uh, before we open those, we’ll have one housekeeping item that would be the minutes from our November 12th meeting. Are there any additions or corrections to those minutes? If not, is there a motion? [1:00] **Commissioner:** I’ll make a motion. [1:02] **Chair Phil Snobak:** A motion for approval. Is there a second? [1:04] **Commissioner:** I’ll second. [1:06] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Motion and second. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Minutes are approved. With that, then, we’ll open up both public hearings at this time. We’ll take them in order as shown on the agenda. The first one is Achen Null combined preliminary and final plat. Jared, you’re going to take this? [1:15] **Jared Aslakson:** Yes, thank you, Chair, Planning Commission members. Uh, so as you guys are aware, a public hearing was scheduled and noticed back for the November 12th Planning Commission meeting regarding the Achen Null combined preliminary and final plat at 19927 Achen Road. Uh, the applicant, Carrie Hanil, requested the public hearing be continued at that meeting to today's meeting, um, due to modifications being done to the plans. Um, but the applicant is now requesting an additional extension to the January Planning Commission meeting, as the modified plans are almost ready to go but some details still need to be finalized. Uh, so the action request is to continue the public hearing to the January 14th Planning Commission meeting. [1:46] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Is there a motion to continue the public hearing? [1:48] **Commissioner:** Motion to continue. [1:50] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Is there a second? [1:51] **Commissioner:** I’ll second. [1:53] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Motion and second. Call the roll, please. [1:55] **Tony Wippler:** Windschitl? (Yes). Teske? (Yes). Roddy? (Yes). Leato? (Yes). Snobak? (Yes). [2:05] **Chair Phil Snobak:** All right, thank you, Jared. Uh, now a second public hearing. This is an ordinance amendment to Title 10, Chapters 2, 5, and 6 of the Farmington City Code as it relates to the cannabis business. And Tony, if I could just read something real quick—um, although not everyone approves of cannabis, it’s now legal in our state and it’s the City’s responsibility to control and monitor the manufacture, sale, and use of this product, and this ordinance sets up the process to do that. So just in case anybody’s wondering why we are talking about cannabis. [2:33] **Tony Wippler:** Absolutely, thank you, Mr. Chair, Commission members. Uh, before you this evening is an ordinance with several amendments to Title 10, Chapters 2, 5, and 6 of the City Code as it relates to cannabis business. As the Commission is aware, there’s been a numerous amount of meetings and work sessions over the last several months dealing with this specific topic, um, related to the newer legislation that the state has passed. Um, and this is in response to that legislation. [3:21] **Tony Wippler:** So, the first section is Section 2 of Title 10; this is our definitions. This ordinance creates four additional definitions for the code. The first one is "Cannabis Cultivation," which is a use involving the licensed growing and harvesting of cannabis. "Cannabis or Hemp Manufacturing," an establishment or use of land which involves the compounding, processing, packaging, wholesaling, testing, treatment, transportation, or delivery of cannabis or hemp products. [4:06] **Tony Wippler:** Uh, the next one is "Cannabis Retail," a licensed establishment where cannabis flowers, immature cannabis plants, and seedlings and related products as allowed by law are sold to individual consumers who are at least 21 years of age. And the last definition that is added is the "Lower Potency Hemp Edible Retail." This is a licensed establishment where lower potency hemp edible products are sold to individuals or individual consumers who are at least 21 years of age. So that’s the first component of the ordinance that’s before you this evening. [4:53] **Tony Wippler:** Uh, the second deals with the various districts. So, it is Chapter 5 of Title 10. This is where we actually place the uses within the various zoning districts. This is one of the topics where we had quite a bit of conversation over the last several months regarding these specific uses. Um, as the Commission is aware, we were looking at having them as all conditional uses. And what we’re looking at with the table here is that within the A1 zone, you would have a conditional use for both cannabis cultivation outdoor and cannabis cultivation indoor. Within our B1, um, we would be having cannabis retail and lower potency hemp edible retail both as conditional uses. Our B2, which is our downtown—actually B1, B2, and B3—and the Spruce Street mixed-use and MUCI, which is our mixed-use commercial industrial, those all fall the same pattern where the cannabis retail and lower potency hemp edible retail, those are all conditional uses within those specific zoning districts. And then cannabis cultivation indoor and cannabis or hemp manufacturing, we have listed as conditional uses within our industrial zoning district. So those are the changes that we are proposing with the districts, and again, we are looking to have those all be conditional uses to where they would have to come back before this Commission for approval. [6:24] **Tony Wippler:** Chapter 6—basically what this is, it creates Section 31 within Chapter 6 of Title 10. It creates certain standards for these uses. These standards include the need to provide evidence of a state license for any proposed cannabis business; includes the limit standard as outlined in state statute of no more than one cannabis retail business per 12,500 residents; and it establishes hours of operation for cannabis retail, which in this instance, hours of operation would be between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Sundays. And then, um, also hours of operation for the lower potency hemp edible retail, and what we are showing for that would be that use would be prohibited between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and between 2:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Action as requested this evening, as those are the main components of this ordinance, is to recommend that the City Council approve Ordinance Number 2024-13, an ordinance amending Title 10, Chapters 2, 5, and 6 of the Farmington City Code as it relates to cannabis business. [7:45] **Chair Phil Snobak:** All right, thank you, Tony. Uh, this is a public hearing. We’ll open up to the public. Uh, seeing we have no visitors and no residents here, um, just note that in the record. We’ll start with Commissioner Teske. [8:00] **Commissioner Teske:** I think this looks great. Um, I feel really comfortable with the amount of time that we spent in workshops reviewing it. I’ve learned a lot, um, and I look forward to kind of how this industry and business develops in our community. [8:12] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Commissioner Windschitl? [8:15] **Commissioner Windschitl:** The only question I have—I know there’s state licensing that needs to be done. Is there anything on a local city level as far as licensing, or the licensing is done directly through the state? [8:27] **Tony Wippler:** Everything is through the state, correct. [8:30] **Commissioner Windschitl:** Okay. And then to make sure compliance is there, is that something the City’s going to look at, like enforcing the compliance to make sure they’re complying with it, or is it more or less the state just looking on terms of—like same with alcohol or liquor, where the City checks to make sure they’re not serving minors? I do believe that enforcement in large part would fall to the City, if I’m not mistaken? [8:53] **Tony Wippler:** Right, I think so. You were going to go through a registration process, right? Yeah, I believe so. I mean, one terminology that they’re using with this is that you get a license through the state, but the City can register so that they know where they are and then they can be following up with those businesses. [9:11] **Commissioner Windschitl:** Okay, perfect. Thank you. That’s it. Looks good. [9:13] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Commissioner Leato? [9:14] **Commissioner Leato:** Um, everything looks really good. I think everybody did a great job with all of the information and discussion. The only thing I just want to make sure I clarify is when deciding on the hours of operation, we tried to get that as close to the current, um, alcohol rules, and so I just want to make sure that everyone was aware that’s the reason we did it as such. [9:36] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Yeah, thank you. And Commissioner Roddy? [9:37] **Commissioner Roddy:** Thanks for your work. I have no questions. [9:40] **Chair Phil Snobak:** I’ll go off Leato's question. Tony, for cannabis, you stated when the operation "shall be," and for hemp, you said when it "can’t be." Why the opposite? Why not consistent with: "The hours of operation for cannabis are these, the hours of operation for hemp are these"? Is there a thought process behind that? [10:11] **Tony Wippler:** Uh, I think that’s just the—I don't know, um, I don’t know that I have a great answer for you on that. Um, I think it’s just the way—I think in large part the way the alcohol code reads is how that reads, too. Um, we tried to keep it as similar as possible to that. [10:35] **Chair Phil Snobak:** All right. So, I go back to the original statement—this is now legal in Minnesota and, you know, again, the Council and the Commission met several times and uh, we need some kind of guidance, you know, and the ability to monitor and control it as we talked about. So, I would support this and send a recommendation to our City Council with it. I’d look for a motion to close the public hearing. [10:59] **Commissioner:** Motion to close. [11:00] **Chair Phil Snobak:** You have a motion. Is there a second? [11:01] **Commissioner:** I’ll second. [11:03] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Motion and a second. Call the roll, please. [11:05] **Tony Wippler:** Teske? (Yes). Roddy? (Yes). Leato? (Yes). Snobak? (Yes). Windschitl? (Yes). [11:10] **Chair Phil Snobak:** The Commission then sends a recommendation to our City Council on Ordinance 2024-13 amending Title 10, Chapters 2, 5, and 6 of the Farmington City Code as it relates to cannabis business. Is there a motion? [11:23] **Commissioner:** I’ll make a motion to approve. [11:25] **Chair Phil Snobak:** You have a motion for a favorable recommendation. Is there a second? [11:27] **Commissioner:** I’ll second. [11:28] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Motion and second. Any more discussion? If not, call the roll, please. [11:30] **Tony Wippler:** Roddy? (Yes). Leato? (Yes). Snobak? (Yes). Windschitl? (Yes). Teske? (Yes). [11:37] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Thank you, Tony. You were going to go through the calendar or mention it? [11:40] **Tony Wippler:** I was going to mention it, um, yeah. I provided all the Commission members a copy of the 2025 meeting schedule. Um, all the dates except for the November date are the second Tuesday of each month. Um, November is different because that second Tuesday would be Veterans Day, so that gets moved to November 12th, so a Wednesday. And I’ll certainly remind the Commission in advance of that meeting of that change. So, that’s all I had. [12:05] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Appreciate it. Anything else from staff? Anything else from the Commission? If not, I’ll remind our residents and viewers our next regular meeting is in 2025; it’s January 14th. And with that, I look for a motion to adjourn. [12:20] **Commissioner:** Motion to adjourn. [12:22] **Chair Phil Snobak:** There’s a motion. Do we have a second? [12:23] **Commissioner:** I’ll second. [12:25] **Chair Phil Snobak:** Motion and second to adjourn. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). We’re officially adjourned. Thank you, everybody. [12:32] [Music]