Planning commission items: cannabis cultivation CUP, private cemetery approval and shoreland MOU with Pelican River Watershed win county support

Becker County commissioners acted on several planning and zoning matters Oct. 8 after the planning commission's Sept. 24 meeting.

Cannabis cultivation/wholesale: The board concurred with the planning commission's recommendation to approve a conditional-use permit for wholesale cannabis cultivation and related manufacturing on a 55-acre parcel. Planning staff said the applicant has preliminary state approval steps completed and that setbacks and neighboring impacts were reviewed; no public opposition was recorded in the planning process.

Private cemetery: The board also approved a request for a private cemetery on an individual property, conditioned on recording a plat as required by state statute for unrecorded family cemeteries. Planning staff recommended the condition and advised the applicant of statutory steps for establishing a private cemetery.

Shoreland permitting MOU: Commissioners approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the Pelican River Watershed District to clarify shoreland permitting responsibilities after the watershed adopted rule changes. The MOU assigns most residential impervious-surface and shoreland alteration permitting to the county while reserving the watershed's involvement for larger commercial projects or projects that exceed specified thresholds; the agreement remains in effect until terminated by either party.

Planning staff reported they had sent several nuisance/blighted-property cases to the county attorney for follow-up and that enforcement letters and next steps are under way. Commissioners asked staff to update them on enforcement status at subsequent meetings.

The three planning items were approved by voice vote without recorded roll-call tallies.