Marijuana permit application reviewed

By TOM LAVENTURE

[email protected]

Ironwood — A local company’s plan to open an adult-use marijuana retail outlet along with grower and processing permits has a site plan and conditional use permit hearing on Thursday with the Ironwood Planning Commission.

Brandon Midthun of Free World Farms, and his attorney Jeff Barker, appeared at the virtual meeting to discuss their plans for a retail outlet at 151 E Cloverland Drive, along with a class B and class C marijuana growing and processing facility at 90 Mill Street. The building has been unused for 30 years.

The company did not have a survey or site plan conducted and that will need to be completed for possible site plan and use approval by the commission, and to be considered in the competitive process for the licenses by the city commission, said Tom Bergman, director of community development for the city of Ironwood. Information on the existing topography and post-construction plans that show how stormwater is managed is required of all applications, he said. 

The company plans to locate its growing facility at 90 Mill Street, the 50 acre site that is the former Ahonen Lumber Mill. The new owners of the site have conducted an extensive phase one and phase two environmental assessment to indicate where chemical contamination exists.

Correspondence with the state department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has indicated that the growing facility plan does not present an exposure risk above ground, Midthun said. Some new foundation work could go ahead with vapor barriers and asbestos mitigation in some structures.

The plan is to develop structures north and south of the recreational trail, Midthun said. One structure would be used for the class B permit for up to 500 plants, if approved, and a separate structure would be built if the class C permit for up to 2,000 plants is approved, he said.

Over time he said the older structure on the property would be renovated and repurposed.

“My desire is to repurpose rather than demolish,” Midthun said. 

The retail establishment for Free World Farms would be located at 151 E Cloverland Drive. The building is currently not in use and was most recently the location of the former Superior Smokes and prior to that it was Inkrx.

According to Barker, the retail site would employ approximately 12 full and part-time employees. The class B growing facility would employ around 14 staff, and the class C facility would employ around 42 people. 

If the three licenses are approved the company would operate as an integrated locally owned and operated cannabis company that is committed to hiring locally and maintaining ownership, according to the presentation. The project would renovate multiple dilapidated properties with an incremental development plan that reinvests into buildings in phases and work with property owners to try to improve the overall site with additional green space development along the former rail line.

On a separate marijuana permit application the commission postponed approval of the site plan review and conditional use permits for CultivateD, LLC, an Ironwood company with plans for a retail location at 326 W. McLeod Ave., and a class C grower and processor marijuana establishment at 1700 Iron King Road. The delay was to get a traffic specialist and Ironwood Public Safety Department to provide a recommendation on the appropriate primary street entry and exits from the McLeod Avenue retail store.

The “P” shaped property has the retail building in the loop and the parking area along the stem at the McLeod Avenue intersections with Scott Avenue and Silver Street. As a result of the previous meeting the plan was revised but the planning commissioners differed as to which entrance caused the least potential for traffic safety issues at the three-way intersection. 

In other business, the commission changed the monthly meeting time to 5:30 p.m. The next regular meeting of the planning commission will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 3.

Defer combination planning commission and city commission meeting will be held in June. This will allow for an in-person meeting, and recommendations from city public development on the adult-use marijuana permit applications will be available by the meeting, Bergman said.