DENVER COUNCIL DEBATES HOW TO HANDLE MARIJUANA GROW FACILITIES

Denver council debates how to handle marijuana grow facilities

Licensing of marijuana-grow facilities continues to vex Denver's City
Council as the board remains divided over whether to allow existing
facilities to operate in areas where the zoning has changed.

"This is going to continue to be the center of the debate," said
Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell.

The city is wrestling with licensing requirements that must be in
place by July 1, according to a state law passed last year that
requires local governments to license dispensaries, grow facilities
and manufacturing.

The new state law requires that dispensaries grow 70 percent of the
product they sell, which last year spurred a rush to set up grow facilities.

In Denver, most began operating in warehouses in north Denver and
along the South Platte River and Interstate 25 and Interstate 70.

About the same time, the city's zoning code changed, leaving many
grow facilities that had obtained plant husbandry permits suddenly
nonconforming.

A total of 51 of the 179 plant husbandry permits issued between Jan.
1, 2009, and July 1, 2010, are nonconforming, according to city records.

In the Five Points neighborhood - where at least one developer has
been in vocal opposition to the facilities - 17 of the 21 facilities
are nonconforming.

On Tuesday, a council committee will meet to discuss a draft bill
that has divided the council between those who think grow facilities
impede development and those who say the facilities ought to be
governed like any other business.

Does the city grandfather in those facilities under the old zoning code or not?

"This is going to be a battle," said Councilman Charlie Brown. "The
government has already given them a permit. I don't believe in zoning
people out of business. This is one of our fastest growing businesses
in Denver, whether you like it or not."

But Councilwoman Judy Montero doesn't think the facilities should be
allowed to remain in the River North area, northeast of Coors Field,
where developers hope to transform a blighted warehouse district into
a walkable, trendy neighborhood.

"Now that the new zoning code has passed, many of the people don't
want to continue as heavy industrial," she said. "What I am trying to
do there is figure out how we can create a balance in all of that."