Bemidji Planning Board clears path for recreational cannabis in city limits

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Planning Board cleared a path for a recreational cannabis dispensary within city limits during its meeting Monday, Feb. 9.

First City Cannabis aims to open the dispensary at a proposed site neighboring the Gym Bin, a youth gymnastics studio. An interim use permit was approved, with numerous conditions, on a 5-1 vote.

Board member Emelie Rivera voiced her support for the interim use permit during the meeting, pointing to numerous conditions attached to its approval.

“It's all for the sale of a product that is designed for people 21 and older,” she said. “Kids can enter liquor stores. Kids can enter tobacco stores. They aren't going to be able to enter this.”

After working with the city’s planning department for nearly a year, First City Cannabis first appeared on the Bemidji’s citizen planning commission agenda in November 2025, for the commission to consider the approval of an interim use permit at a leased facility on the south side of Bemidji.

Bemidji Area Schools has a partnership with the Gym Bin for the district’s gymnastics teams. Since December, several community members urged Bemidji’s citizen planning commission to deny recommending the cannabis dispensary’s permit. The proposed location is also near the Kandiland Daycare Center.

Over months of discussion, that commission was unable to come up with enough votes to approve or deny the permit and passed it off without recommendation to the planning board, comprised of the Bemidji City Council.

The city’s cannabis ordinance places zoning buffers around day cares, schools, park attractions and residential treatment facilities, prescribing a distance of several hundred feet that cannabis dispensaries and related facilities can operate. There is no specific language in the ordinance for businesses that primarily serve children and families, such as the Gym Bin.

The ordinance also does not precisely specify whether those buffers are measured by property lines or distance of buildings. The First City Cannabis leased space is within about 450 feet of Gym Bin’s property line, but 500 feet from the Gym Bin facility. It lies 600 feet from the nearest licensed child care center.

Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince, in his capacity as planning board member, commented on the complexity of the issues compared to other planning projects.

"If I vote ‘no’ against that, I got to say the 50 feet matters,” he said. “I just see a lot of good people here trying to do the right thing. I see a big hole in what the state's given us. And we're all here on a 60-day clock trying to make the best decision we can.”

The first non-tribal recreational cannabis dispensary in the area is slated to open before the end of the month. The Bemidji Pioneer reports a Mexico-themed dispensary, Coconut Cannabis, will soon open at an adjoining facility to Lakes Liquor, about 5 miles north of Bemidji’s city limits.