County OKs Cannabis Rules

Commission Chairperson Cheri Loest was absent during Tuesday night’s meeting.

While Tuesday’s meeting marked the second reading of the zoning ordinance changes, much of the discussion centered around a related agenda item later in the meeting — the first reading of the licensing ordinance.

Among the highlights of the licensing ordinance:

• Each of the four types of medical cannabis establishment would be allotted 10 permits.

• A permit application costs a non-refundable $5,000, with a $5,000 annual renewal fee.

Commissioner Wanda Howey-Fox said she’d been rethinking the cap of 10 permits per establishment.

“I’m questioning whether we should have seven licenses for each instead of 10 because we have seven package-liquor licenses,” she said. “That was just a thought I had to make it consistent.”

Ned Horsted, executive director of the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota, said he had some minor concerns about the county having any caps on permits at all.

“Who knows? You might not even get 10 applications of any one of these license types,” he said. “But we have seen in other states where it does invite litigation of some sort because, if it’s conditional-use, and you let Bob have one but Steve and Denise don’t get one, then people are upset. Removing caps just eliminates that entirely out of the equation.”

He added that there’s also concern that one could grab up licenses and sit on them.

“Let’s say you’ve got someone out in the country that owns a farm, and they apply for all the licensing because they meet the regulations,” he said. “Then you’ve got some sort of commodity. Even though you can’t transfer it by person, it’s pretty easy to set up an LLC or become a member of an LLC, shift some stuff around and, next thing you know, licenses are grabbed from people, and there’s not a high likelihood they would actually have the business where they applied for their license.”

Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Debra Lillie said that sitting on a license just isn’t possible.

“You can’t get a license and not do anything with it and then come in and try to get it renewed,” she said. “You basically have to be up and running within a year once you get your license.”

Commissioner Dan Klimisch said he’s comfortable sticking with the 10-permit cap for each category.

“Anybody who’s going to apply is going to need to take it pretty seriously, especially with a non-refundable $5,000 (application fee),” he said. “They’re going to have to get that business up and running. They’re not going to be able to sit on that license for 5-10 years. They’re going to have to do something with it.”

Horstead also commended the Yankton County Commission for being on the ball throughout the process.

“I appreciate the good government that I’ve seen down here in Yankton,” he said. “I’ve been doing meetings at the state level and in different localities. The fact that you stick to your agenda for the viewers at home is a wonderful thing. I’ve been to several meetings where they shuffle things around and try to make things more difficult than they need to be.”

There was no action taken on the licensing ordinance Tuesday. The second reading is slated for the County Commission’s next meeting Oct. 5.

In other business Tuesday, the board:

• Approved the 2022 budget;

• Held a presentation proclaiming Yankton County a Purple Heart County;

• Approved the county’s five-year road and bridge plan;

• Approved a conditional-use permit, a plat and a replat;

• Received an update on the West Yankton Sanitary District Study;

• Appointed Matt Evans to the Planning Commission.

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