The Durango City Council will likely vote on a 60-day moratorium on new marijuana shops in certain parts of town next week.
On Tuesday, councilors asked the city attorney to start work on the proposed moratorium.
The request for a moratorium was prompted by La Patronas, a marijuana shop that plans to open at Main Avenue and west 10th Street near El Rancho and the Colorado Grow Co.
“I was surprised by this latest application,” Mayor Christina Rinderle said. Neighbors also had concerns about allowing two shops so close together.
Mike Finney was among those who wrote to city planners. His office is on the 900 block and he has already had some issues with the Colorado Grow Co.
“We’ve had problems with smell. We’ve had problems with people coming into our office because they can’t read the signs,” he said in an interview.
Finney said Colorado Grow Co. staff members have been good to work with to minimize some of the problems, but he would have preferred that rules had prohibited La Patronas.
Rinderle believed the city limited marijuana shops downtown to one per block segment – including side streets. But the rules do not prohibit marijuana shops on side streets unless the marijuana shop is on the corner.
While La Patronas is prompting the review of local rules, the moratorium will not apply to the proposed shop.
The planning department approved the shop’s land-use permit last week because it abides by city regulations, Planner Craig Roser said in an interview. Now, the Local Licensing Authority will review the shop’s application.
However, councilors agreed to review the rules because no applications would be affected.
The moratorium will likely apply to downtown, north Main Avenue to the city limits, Camino del Rio adjacent to downtown and East Eighth Avenue to Colorado Highway 3.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
