Minneapolis cannabis regulations won’t mandate buffer zone between dispensaries

Cannabis dispensaries won’t open in Minneapolis until 2025. However, the city took a significant regulatory step Thursday by adopting a set of zoning rules that will apply to cannabis sellers, manufacturers and other related businesses. 

The regulations do not impose a distance restriction between individual cannabis dispensaries.  

Council member Aurin Chowdhury offered the amendment that eliminates a proposed 300-foot buffer between dispensaries. She said she wants to ensure local business owners — who have already opened low-potency hemp stores and want to become dispensaries — don’t get pushed out by someone who gets a license first and is within that buffer zone.

Ward 12 council member Aurin Chowdhury speaks during a city council meeting in Minneapolis on Jan. 23.Ben Hovland | MPR News

Council member Katie Cashman said she doesn’t want out-of-state businesses “gobbling up the existing spaces” at the expense of the over 500 existing hemp retailers in the city who may want to venture into the dispensary business.

“Also note for folks that are concerned about a congregation of dispensaries,” Chowhdury added. “I’ll say that they’re already built-in buffers into this ordinance, including the 300-foot buffer from K through 12 schools.”

Chowdhury said that the amendment is in line with regulations adopted by the city of St. Paul earlier this week.

But that didn’t sit well with at least one council member.

“I’m not sure St. Paul is the best model for us,” added council member Linea Palmisano. “I guess I’m a little more skeptical of opening up all of the zoning that this does for new cannabis permissions than others.”

Palmisano said she’s concerned that the clustering of cannabis businesses could hurt those in other parts of the city. The council member said she preferred a more measured approach. 

Ward 13 council member Linea Palmisano speaks out during a city council meeting in Minneapolis on Jan. 23.Ben Hovland | MPR News

“We have a great responsibility here to wade into this cautiously because we will never be able to go backwards and unzone some of these places,” she said.

Palmisano also said she didn’t understand why the regulations shortened the buffer between dispensaries and schools from 500 to 300 feet.

Chowdhury replied that currently there’s a 300-foot buffer between k-12 schools and liquor stores. She said she wants the history of cannabis criminalization to inform the zoning process, as the city ushers in a new era of recreational marijuana.

“Legalization is a part of remedying that harmful legacy, specifically to people who are incarcerated for low-level drug crimes, and the way that cannabis has been perceived in our country,” Chowhdury said. “Having a higher restriction on spacing from schools, from liquor stores, felt a way of saying one is more moral than the other, and that was something that was discussed in the planning commission.”

She added that the city should vocally support state laws to keep cannabis out of the hands of children.

The city’s zoning regulations also prohibit outward advertising of cannabis products.

“Leaders from across our local government have been working for years to set up an inclusive, fair, and thoughtful approach to recreational cannabis in Minneapolis,” said Mayor Frey in a statement. “This ordinance is one important piece of the overall framework we’re putting in place to ensure legalization works for everyone.”

MPR News reporter Cari Spencer contributed to this story.

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