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A legal, but non-conforming, farm in the City of Wyoming was denied permission to let a third party lease land to grow a cannabis crop.  The Wyoming city council last week did not approve an interim use permit to a cannabis cultivation enterprise.

Council was advised that the farm was made a residential zone in the 1990s— although the owners, David and Kelly Wosika, said they thought the parcel is zoned agricultural.  There was no specific documentation presented, and decisions were based on the site having changed to residential from ag.

City Attorney Tom Loonan said if council approves this use (cannabis cultivation) on residential property it could open the doors for future requests relying on prior zoning.  “Potential implications” are unwanted, he added.

The Wosikas argue  cannabis is a crop and this is just an “expansion” of the farm uses grandfathered in under the previous ag definition. David said there’s haying and other farm activities on-going. However, cannabis is not classified as a “crop” in Minnesota,  and back when the property was officially agricultural by definition, cannabis was prohibited from being grown. If the permit were to be approved it would have to be based on conditions in effect at the time the land was ag.

In an action tabling another request, council said there needs to be more budgetary information provided.  The Chisago County Historical Society asked for $500 to $1,500 immediately, and while a couple council members fully supported the larger amount, the concern about where the funds will be pulled from and it is not now in the budget won out and the request was tabled.

~ The license plate reader policy was accepted as written. Wyoming has two of four readers in place and two more are on order.  Their network will be activated when training is completed and everything is functional, according to Public Safety Director Neil Bauer.  The Flock brand devices communicate with reader databases all over the United States and locally.  They are not used to issue tickets or track speed, they are used to find license plate numbers and collate the data to models of vehicles believed to be involved in criminal activity.

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