EAST GRAND FORKS – The East Grand Forks approved the city’s local cannabis business fees during its meeting Tuesday night.

Even though cannabis has been legal in the state since 2023, the process of setting up registration, rules and the establishment
Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management has been slow.
The OCM only recently published its registration fee schedule for what it will charge the 13 different types of cannabis businesses allowed in Minnesota. With that, the city can then set its local fee schedule.

“We’re getting a lot of questions on when we’re going to open our registration process after these fees are formally set,” East Grand Forks City Administrator Reid Huttunen told the Herald. “There’s still no defined timeline for when the state is going to start issuing those.”

The City Council set the fees at the maximum allowed for cities. Most businesses will pay between $250 and $500 for an initial registration fee. Microbusinesses, growing up to 5,000 square feet of plant canopy indoors, do not have an initial registration fee and low-potency hemp edible retailers pay $125 per location. Most businesses also pay a $1,000 renewal fee, but those with lower costs for an initial license will have local renewal fees between $125 and $500.

The OCM sent its proposed rules to an administrative law judge for approval last week. If the judge accepts those rules, a first batch of social equity applicants who passed a review in fall 2024 would be among the first non-tribal businesses to operate. Licenses could begin to be issued as soon as the end of April.

A moratorium on cannabis businesses within city limits expired at the end of 2024. However, the city hasn’t been notified by the OCM about any new business license holders coming into the city. While the city has gotten more information in the past six months from the OCM about local rules the city has expressed frustration with the lack of communication and the lack of local control.

“They never officially sent (the local government guide). It just was all of a sudden on their website,”
Huttunen told the Herald in November 2024.
“I had been doing periodic check-ins to see what was going on so I could have my group planning meetings with our staff and then one day, ‘by the way, here’s your local government guide.’ ”

In other news, the council:

• Approved buying a playground for the Griggs Park Trailhead. The cost of construction is around $82,600 to be funded with a mix of donations,
  funds from the American Crystal Sugar pollution fine and Altru Partnership Funds. 
• Approved a special event permit for the East Grand Forks High School prom. The approval allows for the closure of the restaurant row parking lot on May 3 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.