By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
Like other cities in Minnesota, the City of Dundas is working to implement local regulations before the sale of cannabis becomes legal in the state next year. Last Monday, the Dundas City Council took up a rezoning ordinance to implement those local regulations. The primary regulation the city is looking at is where stores will be allowed to be located, and the hours they would be allowed to be open. Furthermore, since some of the city’s land is zoned for agricultural use, the cultivation of cannabis in the city has to be addressed as well.
The major point of conversation amongst the Dundas City Council was the hours stores could be open to sell cannabis. The state allows for sales until 2:00 a.m. After conversations, the council agreed that 10:00 p.m. was a more “reasonable” time to close. Ultimately, the council approved the ordinance. Going forward, cities and businesses now wait for the State to begin licensing businesses to sell next year.
Also, at the last council meeting, Dundas approved the long-term budget plan, here’s City Administrator Jenelle Teppen
“In a work session kind of really dug into the next what the next five years in terms of finances looks like given our capital improvement plan. Some of the projects that we have on our horizon and So they amended the fund balance policy. The state auditor recommends a cities have a fund balance of 30 to 50% of expenditures, and that’s because property tax payments come to cities just twice a year” – Dundas City Administrator Jenelle Teppen on the KYMN Morning Show
Teppen noted that cities must have enough funds in reserve to pay expenses throughout the year since they only receive tax funds twice a year. The council lowered the reserves from 55% to 50% after considering the other long-term plans and deeming it unnecessary.
Lastly, the council changed the cities parking regulations, Teppen noted an example for restaurants:
“One parking space if in a restaurant situation, for example, one parking space is required for every 3 tables. As an example, we are we change that to say based on the square footage of a restaurant. ” – Dundas City Administrator Jenelle Teppen on the KYMN Morning Show
View all the agenda and minutes from Dundas here. The Dundas City Council meets again next Monday at 7pm.
