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Resident urges Pine County to require light mitigation for cannabis facilities, cites visibility and inconsistent enforcement
Summary
A Royalton Township resident asked the Pine County Board to require light mitigation for cannabis operations and alleged inconsistent application of mitigation and repeated planning-and-zoning meeting cancellations; she left statutes with county staff and asked commissioners to refer the complaint to planning and zoning.
During the meeting—s public forum a Royalton Township resident, Denise Wise, told the Pine County Board that lights from local cannabis facilities "are being seen 6 miles away" and asked the board to apply light-mitigation requirements consistently.
Wise said she has raised the issue repeatedly and filed a formal complaint; she criticized repeated cancellations of planning and zoning meetings observed over the past 11 months and asked why meetings were canceled more than half the time. "Why have a planning and zoning if you're just gonna cancel it?" she asked the board and urged commissioners to send the matter to planning and zoning and to notify long-time residents who preceded the new facilities.
Wise referenced state law while describing the impact, saying, "Per the Minnesota statute, 16 B 0.328 light pollution ... means the shining of light produced by a luminaire above the height of the luminaire and into the sky." She said the inconsistency in applying mitigation is "not fair" to residents and suggested the county examine its complaint process and enforcement.
The chair thanked Wise for bringing the matter to the board. No formal direction or vote to change county enforcement policy was recorded at the meeting; Wise said she left statutory citations with county staff for follow-up.
