Forest Lake council approves five-year interim use permit for Smoky Oaks retail cannabis at 115 Lake Street N.

Forest Lake City Council approved an interim use permit for Smoky Oaks LLC to operate a retail adult-use cannabis retail store at 115 Lake Street North, adopting Resolution 09222501 with 14 conditions for a five-year term.

Planning staff told the council the application conforms to the city’s adopted standards for retail cannabis interim use permits, with a single outstanding administrative issue about signage. “Tonight before you is consideration of a resolution that would authorize an interim use permit for Smoky Oaks LLC to operate a retail cannabis store at 115 Lake Street North,” planning staff member Abby said, noting the permit is discretionary and time-limited.

An interim use permit (IUP) in Forest Lake is a use allowed in a zoning district that the council may permit subject to conditions and a time cap; staff said the City chose IUPs to allow future re-evaluation of regulations. The staff report included resolution 09222501 and recommended approval with 14 conditions; the Planning Commission had previously held a public hearing and recommended approval to the council.

Councilors moved and seconded the resolution and voted in favor. The record does not show roll-call vote totals by council member in the spoken transcript; the mayor declared the motion carried and moved to the next agenda item.

Staff emphasized that signage permissions are an administrative, not a land-use, approval and that rooftop or parapet-mounted signs are not allowed under the city’s sign regulations; the permit’s conditions do not alter that separate sign-review requirement. The resolution sets a five-year effective window for the IUP so the city may reassess retail cannabis regulations if policy changes occur.

The council discussion recorded in the meeting focused on procedure and form; no substantive amendments to the staff-recommended conditions were recorded in the meeting minutes.