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Albert Lea council denies cannabis microbusiness registration, orders refund and temporary hold on new registrations
Summary
The council denied a microbusiness registration application for Benjamin Koppel d/b/a Mountain Site Vision LLC because the city's two available local registration slots are filled; the council directed staff to refund the registration fee and temporarily stop accepting further registrations pending ordinance review.
The Albert Lea City Council voted Aug. 25 to deny a cannabis microbusiness registration for Benjamin Koppel d/b/a Mountain Site Vision LLC, direct staff to refund the registration fee, and pause acceptance of further registrations until the council reviews related ordinances.
The city manager explained that while the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management had licensed the applicant, the city had already accepted two local registrations and therefore lacked capacity to approve an additional local registration. The city manager recommended "deny in the affirmative" and to refund the fee and stop accepting new registrations until council ordinance review.
The city attorney added clarification about timing and capacity, noting that "at the time this registration fee was accepted, there was actually capacity to accept the registration" but the city no longer had an available slot when the matter came before council.
Councilor Anderson moved to deny the registration, refund the registration fee, and direct staff to stop accepting new registrations; a second was provided by Councilor Van Beek. After no further discussion the council approved the motion by voice vote.
The council scheduled related legal and administrative matters for closed session later in the meeting under cited Minnesota statutes.
