AURORA | Marijuana retailers won’t be allowed in Aurora for at least one year, if the city council agrees with its own committee next month.
The committee decided April 16 to recommend the restrictions.
Council members will decide at their meeting May 6 whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.
City lawyers told the council’s Amendment 64 ad hoc committee it’s “nearly impossible” to draft zoning and business regulations for marijuana retailers before the July 1 deadline, which was set in the amendment approved by voters. The city council would have to decide where marijuana retailers would be allowed, determine whether to mandate security and what the retailers would look like — and that’s not possible in less than three months, said assistant city attorney Dave Lathers.
“I don’t think it can be done,” he said.
Committee members agreed the city should wait a year before setting its own marijuana business regulations so they can see how the state Legislature decides how to regulate commercial marijuana and to see how other municipalities are handling retailers.
Under Amendment 64, which passed last November, cities can draft licensing regulations for four types of marijuana businesses: marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana product manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities and retail marijuana stores.
Election results show that Aurora voters across the city largely approved Amendment 64. Voters in all six city wards approved the ballot question, 56.5 percent to 43.4 percent.
The amendment also allows municipalities to “opt out” of the commercial sale of marijuana, but Aurora council members say their opt-out is not a permanent ban.
“We just need time to make sure we’ve got our rules and everything taken care of,” said Councilwoman Barb Cleland, who sits on the Amendment 64 committee.
Councilwoman Molly Markert disagreed, saying it would be best to wait until after the Legislative session ends to make a decision on whether Aurora should opt-out.
“I would like to know more. I don’t know enough, and I don’t make decisions without adequate information,” she said.
The city could miss out on tax revenue if it decides to move forward with a temporary ban on commercial marijuana sales.
Budget officials said in March that Aurora could earn up to $2.5 million annually in sales tax revenues and licensing fees if marijuana retailers were regulated like liquor stores.
If retailers were regulated like pawnshops, the city could receive an estimated $912,000 annually, and if they were only allowed in industrial areas, the city would earn about $322,000 annually.
The Legislature is expected to pass laws regarding commercial marijuana sales by May 8, the last day of the legislative session.
Committee members say they are interested to see what laws will be passed by state lawmakers regarding marijuana in the coming days.
Roberto Venegas, intergovernmental relations coordinator for the city, said no marijuana bills have been introduced yet at the Legislature. He said it’s possible the Legislature could convene for a “special session” after the Legislative session adjourns to address marijuana regulation.
Venegas said one of the struggles lawmakers are having is determining whether the marijuana industry should be “vertically integrated.” That means the marijuana stores would have to sell the marijuana they grow.
Venegas said vertical integration is preferred by cities because it’s easier for law enforcement to keep track of marijuana, and there’s less chance of sellers buying product from cartels.
“Maintaining control of the product is key to making sure businesses operate in a way that’s legal,” he said.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said at the meeting that sheriffs and chiefs across the state are advocating for the marijuana industry to be vertically integrated.
“If we have seed-to-sale vertical integration, we’re going to know who the bad guys are versus those who are trying their best to comply with the law,” Oates said.
Medical marijuana businesses in Colorado are currently vertically integrated.
At the next Amendment 64 ad-hoc committee meeting May 9, committee members will talk about marijuana laws.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.