If the board votes to allow recreational marijuana shops to open in certain areas of town on Wednesday, July 23, the town could start accepting applications from businesses by the end of August.
The board will consider a revision to the land use code that would allow recreational marijuana business to open in areas set aside for commercial development. A public hearing is also scheduled during the meeting to allow time for the public to comment on the potential ordinance.
The board passed regulations in June that would govern the operations of recreational marijuana shops. One board member voiced dissent by voting against the regulations, and one community board member voiced concern about the impact of allowing marijuana to be sold in town during the meeting.
The proposed land-use revisions would allow recreational marijuana to be sold in commercially zoned areas, the light industrial zone and the highway business district. The highway business district starts at Ervien Drive and runs west along U.S. 160 to North Spruce Street. The commercial area of town includes North Mesa Street and North Main Street from the U.S. 160 to West First Street. The light industrial zone is west of Cottonwood Park.
A business both cultivating and selling retail product would be allowed in the highway business district, commercial district and the light industrial district with a special-use permit. But it would have to be less than 5,000 square feet, according to the proposed ordinance.
Recreational marijuana stores without a facility to grow plants would be limited to 2,500 square feet in the highway business district. Larger shops would have to apply for a special-use permit to open in that area and the two others.
Facilities dedicated to cultivation would be allowed only in the light industrial part of town.
Building used for testing and manufacturing would be allowed in the light industrial part of town and in the highway business district with a special-use permit.
The owners of Beacon Wellness, a medical marijuana shop on Willow Street, have expressed interest in selling recreational marijuana. One also said he approved of the regulations that have been put in place so far.
"Overall, I think they did a great job," Nate Fete said in an interview in June.
The board seems to be preparing for the land-use code to be approved, and at the last meeting directed the town administrator to begin drafting an ordinance that would impose a flat fee on all marijuana transactions that would take effect in January. The voters gave the board authority to levy the fee in April.
mshinn@cortezjournal.com
