COUNTY TO POT STORES: COMPLY OR SHUT DOWN

FORT COLLINS -- Larimer County commissioners told staff members
Tuesday that two medical marijuana businesses operating in the
county outside of county regulations should be given notifications
they need to come into compliance with those rules or cease operating.

One business is just outside Berthoud and the other near Wellington.

In December, the commissioners put a moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries so they could study land use and other issues.

In January, they lifted the moratorium after changing county codes
to allow such businesses only in commercial and industrial zones.

The Berthoud business, at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and
County Road 8, is on 2.5 acres of land zoned for commercial use,
said Michael Whitley of the county planning staff.

But it is adjacent to other properties with single-family homes, and
the code requires 500 feet of separation between homes and marijuana
dispensaries, he said.

It is also adjacent to Berthoud's town boundary.

The business owner could apply for a special review, but under the
intergovernmental agreement between Berthoud and Larimer County, the
county has agreed to not process special review requests in areas
adjacent to the town if Berthoud is interested in annexing that land.

Berthoud staff has indicated the town would be interested in
annexing the land, Whitley said, and is currently processing an
annexation request for land to the south and west of the disputed site.

Further complicating the issue, the marijuana dispensary is operated
by a tenant on the property, not the landowner, who previously has
been opposed to annexation.

If the annexation of the neighboring land goes through and the site
in question becomes a county enclave within the town, Berthoud could
forcibly annex it, Whitley said.

"It is hard for me to think this is anything other than a zoning
violation in this case," Commission Chairman Steve Johnson said.

Commissioners Tom Donnelly and Lew Gaiter both said the property in
question needs to apply for annexation to Berthoud, and if the town
denies the annexation, the county can consider a special review request.

Commissioners agreed to give the business six weeks' notice that
there will be a code compliance hearing in the case.

The Berthoud case came to light after a resident's complaint about
the business.

The second case the commissioners reviewed, near Wellington, came to
light after a newspaper report of an armed break-in at the home at
609 E. County Road 70 on March 13.

That business is operating on a 5-acre property with O-Open zoning.

The business owner will be notified he needs to go through the
special exception process in order to continue operating at that site.