A medical marijuana dispensary in the Highlands was forced to shut its doors on Friday after city officials said the area was not zoned for a dispensary, despite another medical marijuana dispensary opening just 600 feet away.
When Altitude Organic Medicine opened its doors in November 2009, owners thought they were zoned appropriately because of its R-MU-30 classification. City officials had banned dispensaries in residential areas, but because R-MU-30 is a mixed-use zone, owners thought they were in the clear.
Officials, however, told Altitude Organic Medicine that the area was residential, and mixed-use or not, they were banned from operating there. In March, the dispensary was denied an operating license.
Owner Brian Cook thought he was catching a break when the city's new zoning code came out last month, changing the zoning for his dispensary's area from R-MU-30 to a commercial mixed-use zone, where his dispensary would have been eligible to operate.
But city officials had other thoughts in mind. In an attempt to prevent dispensaries from popping up based on changes to the zoning code, they introduced and backed an emergency supplemental bill that prohibits dispensaries banned under the city's old zoning code from opening under the city's new code if the zoning changes to non-residential.
Moratorium
On July 1st, a state-imposed one-year moratorium on all new medical marijuana dispensaries kicked in, and Cook has no where to go. He closed Friday, offering a "fire sale," including $10 grams and $260 ounces. Cook even sold all of his display cases, couches, TVs, artwork, grow equipment, grown vege plants, pots, soil, hydro equipment, nutrients, stack able shelves, tincture, joints, hard candy and apparel.
A barbecue was held at the dispensary, 1716 Boulder St., on Friday as a little thank you and goodbye to all of AOM's 900 patients.
What's got Cook so fired up is that just 600 feet away another dispensary, LoHi Cannabis Club, is opening its doors with approval from the city.
"My zone is a legal retail zone whether it was mixed-use residential or mixed-use commercial," says Cook. "Any change to that zoning language or new way to classify the written zone code, three months after I'm city sales tax licensed, leased here and operating, is cause for me to be paid just compensation."
City attorneys disagree. Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell told the Denver Daily News last week that the new dispensary opening just down the street from Cook is in an area that was always zoned industrial. The new zoning code may have changed the entire area to a commercial mixed-use zone, but it doesn't change the fact that Altitude Organic Medicine was previously in a residential zone, said Broadwell.
It appears to be a case of poor luck for AOM, its owners and its more than 900 patients. Even though AOM is only 600 feet away from LoHi Cannabis Club, because it was once in a residential zone and LoHi Cannabis was never in a residential, AOM has got to close and LoHi gets to take over the medical marijuana scene for the neighborhood.
Cook is suspicious. He's suspicious of LoHi's owners and connections they may have with the city, pointing out that city ordinance allows only one dispensary to legally operate within 1,000 feet of another. Basically, it was AOM or LoHi, and LoHi won. Cook says he should either be offered an exemption, or paid just compensation.
"This is a case of who you know, not zoning, no matter what Broadwell legally concludes," said Cook. "It's not fair to anyone with two eyes and their own thought process."
The city is in the midst of trying to rectify newly implemented state law with a medical marijuana reform ordinance Denver City Council passed around the beginning of the year. Although House Bill 1284 allows local municipalities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating within city limits, it is unlikely that Denver City Council will consider such a ban.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Denver Daily News
Author: Peter Marcus
Contact: Denver Daily News
Copyright: 2010 Denver Daily News
Website: The lows and highs of zoning
When Altitude Organic Medicine opened its doors in November 2009, owners thought they were zoned appropriately because of its R-MU-30 classification. City officials had banned dispensaries in residential areas, but because R-MU-30 is a mixed-use zone, owners thought they were in the clear.
Officials, however, told Altitude Organic Medicine that the area was residential, and mixed-use or not, they were banned from operating there. In March, the dispensary was denied an operating license.
Owner Brian Cook thought he was catching a break when the city's new zoning code came out last month, changing the zoning for his dispensary's area from R-MU-30 to a commercial mixed-use zone, where his dispensary would have been eligible to operate.
But city officials had other thoughts in mind. In an attempt to prevent dispensaries from popping up based on changes to the zoning code, they introduced and backed an emergency supplemental bill that prohibits dispensaries banned under the city's old zoning code from opening under the city's new code if the zoning changes to non-residential.
Moratorium
On July 1st, a state-imposed one-year moratorium on all new medical marijuana dispensaries kicked in, and Cook has no where to go. He closed Friday, offering a "fire sale," including $10 grams and $260 ounces. Cook even sold all of his display cases, couches, TVs, artwork, grow equipment, grown vege plants, pots, soil, hydro equipment, nutrients, stack able shelves, tincture, joints, hard candy and apparel.
A barbecue was held at the dispensary, 1716 Boulder St., on Friday as a little thank you and goodbye to all of AOM's 900 patients.
What's got Cook so fired up is that just 600 feet away another dispensary, LoHi Cannabis Club, is opening its doors with approval from the city.
"My zone is a legal retail zone whether it was mixed-use residential or mixed-use commercial," says Cook. "Any change to that zoning language or new way to classify the written zone code, three months after I'm city sales tax licensed, leased here and operating, is cause for me to be paid just compensation."
City attorneys disagree. Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell told the Denver Daily News last week that the new dispensary opening just down the street from Cook is in an area that was always zoned industrial. The new zoning code may have changed the entire area to a commercial mixed-use zone, but it doesn't change the fact that Altitude Organic Medicine was previously in a residential zone, said Broadwell.
It appears to be a case of poor luck for AOM, its owners and its more than 900 patients. Even though AOM is only 600 feet away from LoHi Cannabis Club, because it was once in a residential zone and LoHi Cannabis was never in a residential, AOM has got to close and LoHi gets to take over the medical marijuana scene for the neighborhood.
Cook is suspicious. He's suspicious of LoHi's owners and connections they may have with the city, pointing out that city ordinance allows only one dispensary to legally operate within 1,000 feet of another. Basically, it was AOM or LoHi, and LoHi won. Cook says he should either be offered an exemption, or paid just compensation.
"This is a case of who you know, not zoning, no matter what Broadwell legally concludes," said Cook. "It's not fair to anyone with two eyes and their own thought process."
The city is in the midst of trying to rectify newly implemented state law with a medical marijuana reform ordinance Denver City Council passed around the beginning of the year. Although House Bill 1284 allows local municipalities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating within city limits, it is unlikely that Denver City Council will consider such a ban.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Denver Daily News
Author: Peter Marcus
Contact: Denver Daily News
Copyright: 2010 Denver Daily News
Website: The lows and highs of zoning
