Two Harbors Council Calls For Temporary Cannabis Moratorium

Questions as to how cannabis businesses should be regulated within the city limits of Two Harbors have been a topic of dis­cussion at a number of Council meetings over the past sev­eral months. There are admittedly some complexities related to licensing and zon­ing that the Council needs to resolve and information coming from the State Office of Cannabis Manage­ment has apparently been spotty. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed including how social equity applications will be handled, how many businesses will be granted licenses in the city, and where cultivation operations can be located and how they will be reg­ulated. The Council opened a public hear­ing at Monday night’s council meeting to re­ceive public input and several area residents were on hand to offer suggestions. Cassidy Gow, owner of Two Harbors Cannabis, of­fered to work with the Council and is clear­ly a knowledgeable resource. Kim Leon, acknowledged that Council members have their hands full with other duties. In the ab­sence of a city planner, Leon encouraged the Council to call togeth­er a special task force of citizens who can do the necessary re­search and make rec­ommendations so that the Council can move forward on their deci­sion making process. Cultivation businesses can begin operation this year and the sale of cannabis products will go live in January of 2025, so it is clearly time to act. The Coun­cil has chosen to adopt “an interim ordinance prohibiting the oper­ation of a cannabis business within the City until January 1st, 2025, to allow the City time to study and plan for appropriate zoning and regulations for operating a cannabis business to protect the health, safety and wel­fare of city residents”. This moratorium can be lifted at any time that the necessary zoning and licensing decisions have been made. It appears that there are citizens who would like to help the Council to that end.

Andrew Grice, of BerganKDV, pre­sented the 2023 au­dit information to the Council. The short version of the report is that folks at City Hall are doing a good job of managing city fi­nances. City revenues have exceeded expen­ditures in 2023 and Grice gave an unmod­ified opinion of the city’s finances which is the highest status that an auditor can give. The full report will be available for perusal at City Hall.

There is an open council seat for Ward 4 that runs until the end of this year. Coun­selors would like to fill that seat and one person has come for­ward for the position. It is typical that when area residents are in­terested in filling city board positions, they meet the Council pri­or to appointment to answer some inter­view type questions. The Council voted to invite the party inter­ested in the Ward 4 seat to meet with them at the next Council meeting which will be held on August 12^th at 5:30PM.