It wasn’t all that long ago that Gayle Jetchick couldn’t ponder the possibility of legal
marijuana — much less a retail pot shop in her Havana Business Improvement District.
“I probably would have thought that you’re crazy,” she said. “It hadn’t even crossed my mind that recreational marijuana would ever be legalized, but the voters spoke and now you have to make the best of it.”
That learned acceptance is something many business owners and policymakers across Aurora have had to deal with over the past year as retail marijuana shops have slowly inundated the city’s many plazas and strip malls.
Since the first gram of legal bud was sold in Aurora this past October, 10 pot shops have sprung up across all corners of the city — from the fringes of Cherry Creek State Park to the bustle of East Colfax Avenue. A total of 23 shops are slated to open in Aurora in the coming years, which is in accordance with the number of licenses the city’s marijuana enforcement division doled out to business owners last year.
The response from neighboring businesses has been largely positive, according to most pot shop owners and operators in the city.
“The businesses around Havana seem to be really accepting,” Jetchick said.
But despite the open-armed greeting of most established Aurora business owners, there have been a handful of snafus.
Rocky Road Aurora was forced to fill out a relocation request with the city in October after the business park where the company was originally granted a license amended its community covenants to prohibit the operation of any marijuana businesses within in its boundaries.
“The business park’s physical configuration is not really a suitable one for traffic flow and management of retail businesses where there is an expectation for a steady and constant flow of traffic,” said Maureen Wade, managing agent of the Fraser Business Park. “This is not an in-and-out place, and you cannot drive through it because you have to back up and back out.”
Wade added that a lack of any other true retailers in the park — she said it mainly houses managerial offices for insurance, tax and law firms — as a reason for amending the park’s tenant stipulations.
Rocky Road consulted with its attorneys to see whether the amendment could apply to their operation retroactively, but stopped short of pursuing legal action, according to Julie Patterson, spokeswoman for the city.
Security is the central selling point many pot shops have for any hesitant neighbors, as most of the pot shops have 24-hour surveillance, bullet proof facades and a number of other security features.
“We have great relationships with everybody in our parking lot,” said Pete Williams, coordinator of operations for Medicine Man on South Havana Street. “If anything, we’re making it safer with our high definition cameras looking in all directions.”
Williams said that Medicine Man paid more than $800,000 for security and general aesthetic improvements for its store on Havana.
“It really was an ugly building for a long time, and now it looks like a medical building or doctor’s office, which is great for the whole district,” Jetchick said.
Matthew Huron, owner of Good Chemistry on the corner of East Iliff Avenue and South Buckley Road, echoed Williams’ thoughts on security and said he looks forward to having his firm mesh with the Aurora business community.
“I’m confident that in the coming months our neighbors are going to really like us,” he said.
Good Chemistry opened its newest location in Aurora on April 9. It shares a plaza with a Mexican butcher shop, a boxing gym, a mechanic and several religious facilities, including an ecumenical Catholic church and a mosque.
Huron pointed to the success of his first location on Colfax near the Capitol as evidence that the presence of a pot shop can help turn around a block or
neighborhood.
“We moved in and people immediately thought, ‘oh great, a pot shop.’” he said. “But since we’ve moved in, two new restaurants have moved in right next to us, the street has cleaned up and it’s a much safer place.”
But even with the success of his first store, Huron admitted that initiating a conversation with neighbors before opening the doors can be difficult.
“It’s really hard to go prior to opening and talk to the neighbors because it doesn’t matter — there’s a stigma,” he said. “It’s after we’re open and they see what we’re doing — it’s kind of actions speak louder than words.”
Although there have been no major battles waged between pot shops and ordinary businesses yet in Aurora, it’s possible some could arise.
Todd Golden, compliance officer for Light Shade — a Denver-based pot shop — said that he fully expects to butt heads with residents and business owners if he opens a shop on the west side of Cherry Creek Reservoir in south Aurora, where Light Shade is currently eying a number of properties on which to build a recreational store. The company has yet to open in Aurora because it lost the original location it had filed with the city after getting outbid for a property last fall.
“We’ll probably come into something because that,” Golden said of possibly developing near the reservoir. “There are townhomes that sit on the west side of the reservoir, so I’m sure they’ll be up and arms against us.”
The city has promised to reserve Light Shade’s original Ward V license until it opens its doors at a new location, which Golden said likely will take about two years.
Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for the Cherry Creek School District, has expressed concern over Light Shade possibly building a shop in relatively close proximity to Cherry Creek high school.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on this,” she said.
Under state law, there must be at least a 1,000-foot buffer between a retail marijuana store and a school.
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