CLOQUET — Following Minnesota’s legalization of cannabis, the city will now regulate how cannabis retailers can operate within city limits.
On Tuesday, July 15, the Cloquet City Council passed an ordinance that, drawing from the city’s existing liquor licensing process and state statute, will regulate how cannabis is cultivated and sold, as well as products using lower-potency hemp, like beverages and gummies. The ordinance passed 6-1, with Councilor Kerry Kolodge voting against it.
The ordinance takes effect as the Office of Cannabis Management is starting to grant licenses to cannabis businesses via a lottery system. Once licensure is granted, dispensaries are required to register with the local government and receive a certification of zoning compliance.
The ordinance does not limit the number of dispensaries that can operate within city limits. Municipalities are allowed to set a limit, determined by population, but Cloquet councilors opted not to do so. Because Cloquet’s population exceeds 12,500, the city is required to permit a minimum of two cannabis dispensaries.
Zoning restrictions passed by the City Council last month
limit dispensaries to operating in the city’s business district along Highway 33. The new ordinance further prohibits dispensaries from operating within 1,200 feet of a school and 600 feet of churches, day care facilities, residential treatment facilities, other cannabis retail businesses and certain park amenities.
Nick Montanari, owner of Salute Dispensary in Cloquet, asked for an exemption. He said his business, which has been in operation since 2022 and currently sells lower-potency hemp products, is within 600 feet of a church.
“Without this protection, we’re effectively being kind of regulated out of existence when we’ve never had any issues the last two years with anything like that,” Montanari said.
City Administrator Tim Peterson agreed with Montanari, stating existing businesses should be exempted, while new dispensaries would be subject to the location prohibitions in the ordinance. The zoning ordinance does allow lower-potency hemp to be sold citywide.
The ordinance allows 30 businesses to register and sell lower-potency hemp products. Peterson said he imagines products will largely be sold by gas stations, restaurants and liquor stores. Peterson said the cap was determined by the number of existing area businesses that would likely sell the products, while leaving the room for a few future operations to sell it as well.
The ordinance limits hours cannabis retailers can operate from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Low-potency hemp products can be sold from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday.
“We would want to follow that time frame for all bars so they don’t have to change out any inventory at different times of the evening,” Peterson said.
The ordinance requires the city to complete one unannounced inspection annually. Businesses selling cannabis and low-potency hemp products without proper registration could incur a fee of up to $2,000. The city can suspend and revoke licenses for violating the ordinance.
The city plans to follow Carlton County’s
cannabis consumption ordinance,
which largely prohibits public consumption of cannabis.
The Office of Cannabis Management held its first round of lotteries in June. However, it was limited to social equity applicants and general applicants seeking cannabis business licenses, such as cultivators and manufacturers. A second lottery for general applicants seeking a cannabis retailer license will be held on July 22.
The ordinance will not apply to areas of Cloquet within the Fond du Lac Reservation without the consent of the band’s government.
Macklin Caruso is a reporter for the Cloquet Pine Journal. You can reach him at mcaruso@pinejournal.com or 218-461-8278.
