Residents of the town of Babbitt packed the city council chambers last Thursday morning for a two-hour planning commission public hearing on a proposal to create an organic cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility. The facility is proposed for three lots on Commerce Road, in the empty space between the Cenex station and Babbitt Road.
The Green Mining Company, the start-up wanting to build the facility, is locally owned and received its license from the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management on April 23. Green Mining needs a conditional use permit to site the facility in the light industrial zone on Commerce Road. The planning commission held the public hearing as part of the permitting process. Now that the hearing has been held, the commission has 45 days to make a recommendation to the Babbitt City Council.
Anyone who has been following the "What's Up Babbitt" Facebook group already knows that the project has generated plenty of controversy in Babbitt. The comments at the hearing echoed many of the remarks and controversy on social media regarding the facility.
Green Mining wants to build four greenhouses for growing marijuana and a manufacturing building to process the plants. The products grown in Babbitt will then be sold in the firm's dispensary in Ely. Green Mining bought the old Ely Bowling Alley for the site of their future retail outlet.
Read more at The Timberjay