St. Augusta City Council Passes Cannabis Ordinance, Adds Workshops

Last night the City of St. Augusta held its first City Council meeting of 2025. One of the top orders of business was the passing of a cannabis ordinance. After a lengthy discussion, the council passed a zoning ordinance, an agreement with Stearns County for compliance, and another agreement with Stearns County to handle the registration of cannabis businesses.

The agreements with Stearns County are something many smaller municipalities are doing that don't have a dedicated police force like a larger city like St. Cloud does. One of the downsides to this agreement is there is language that states if the enforcement costs the county more than what they are getting in revenue, those costs could be brought back to the municipality to pay.

The City of St. Augusta will permit one cannabis business to operate within the city limits.

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Discussion at the meeting indicated the only coffers that are going to be getting filled with any 'real' amount would be the state, as the permits and other fees aren't enough to make much of a dent for counties, cities, and townships in greater Minnesota.

On top of the cannabis ordinances that were passed last night, the city council also announced that in 2025 the council will be scheduling workshops, that are open to the public to attend, to get questions answered before the next council meeting. The workshops will be held on the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm in the St. Augusta City Council Chambers.

Regular city council meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month.