Royalton resident urges Pine County to revise cannabis zoning, says subcommittee ignored state guidance

Denise Weiss, a Royalton Township resident, used the public forum at a Pine County Board meeting to urge commissioners to revisit the county's draft cannabis siting and zoning rules, saying a subcommittee rejected state guidance and had taken field trips that she described as visits to “drug houses.”

“We are not protected as residents the same way,” Weiss told the board, saying the county subcommittee did not follow what she described as Minnesota guidance and recommendations from the Association of Minnesota Counties. She referenced a planning subcommittee that produced an initial draft she called “doable for residents and for the business,” but said the main committee rejected that draft and returned it to the subcommittee.

Weiss also criticized subcommittee field trips. “In between times, the subcommittee went on 2 field trips to the drug houses. And that's what they are. It's drugs. I don't care what name you want to call it,” she said. She suggested those trips were not properly documented or authorized and said the subcommittee members should be removed from their appointments if the trips were not sanctioned.

The comments were delivered during the meeting's public forum; board members did not take formal action in response during the session. No county staff presentation or vote on cannabis zoning occurred during the portion of the meeting recorded.

Weiss closed by asking the commissioners to relook at the draft to “really protect the residents because that's who you serve.”