Longmont picks 4 pot shops to open within city limits
07/02/2018
Information about Longmont's choices of four of the 13 businesses that applied for city licenses to sell recreational marijuana inside the city can be viewed on the city's marijuana regulations website, tinyurl.com/y87cukbf.
That includes a link to the Marijuana Licensing Authority's notice of its four picks, as well as a link to a city staff technical advisory committee's evaluations of each of the 13 applications.
Longmont officials on Monday announced the four businesses that will be permitted to operate retail marijuana sales establishments within the city limits.
The four are The Green Solution, 206 S. Main St.; The Medicine Man, 500 E. Rogers Road; Terrapin Care Station, 650 20th Ave.; and Yuma Way, S. Hover St., Unit A.
Last November, Longmont got 13 applications from recreational marijuana businesses competing to operate in the city after the City Council decided in a split 4-3 Oct. 10 vote to allow up to four such establishments within city limits.
The applications were first reviewed by the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, then by a city technical advisory committee of city staffers with subject-matter expertise — including representatives of the police, fire, planning, community and neighborhood resources departments, the city manager's office, the city clerk's office, the finance department and the Boulder Small Business Development Center.
The city also held a Jan 16-Feb. 16 period for members of the public to comment on individual applications or the selection-and-approval process in general.
Frick, in his capacity as Longmont's Marijuana Licensing Authority and the head of the Selection Division panel, issued the notice of the choices for the four licenses. Each applicant will now have a 60-day period in which to confirm their continued interest in opening a marijuana shop at the approved location and under the terms of its applications.
Terrapin Care Station said in a news release that it "is thrilled" with Longmont's decision to grant the Boulder-based cannabis company a retail license and that it tentatively plans to open its store near 20th Avenue and Main Street this fall.
Terrapin Care founder and owner Chris Woods said in a statement that in his company's application, "we pledged significant resources to the Longmont community in an expansive community effort.
"When Terrapin Care enters a new city, we like to become a part of that city. We look forward to continued growth with the Longmont community," Woods said.
The Longmont store will be Terrapin Care's sixth retail location in Colorado. It now operates shops at two locations in Boulder, two in Aurora and one in Denver.
Rita Salyuk, a member of one of the families that owns Yuma Way, said in a Monday interview "we're very happy" with being one of Longmont's choices. She said they hope to open the Longmont store "as soon as possible" — though she said it may be a few months before it is in operation.
Yuma Way has a retail recreational marijuana sales store in Denver and another one in Glendale, she said.
In Longmont, Salyuk said, "we've got the best location" with the address southeast of Nelson Road and South Hover Street, a site she said will be "very convenient" for customers with lots of parking.
Sally Vander Veer, The Medicine Man's owner and president said, "What a great day!"
Vander Veer said in a Monday interview that getting the East Rogers Road location ready to open will be the latest step in what she said has been "a pretty big undertaking" to become one of Longmont's choices. She said a company project team meeting is scheduled Tuesday.
"It's thrilling," she said. "It's a privilege to get one of those locations in Longmont, and the potential is enormous."
"We knew we had a strong application, but there was a lot of strong competition," she said.
Kyle Speidell, the co-CEO of The Green Solution, which has shops at multiple locations, including Denver, Aurora, Glendale, Edgewater, Westminster, Sheridan, Aspen, Northglenn, Fort Collins, Trinidad and Silver Plume, said, "We are incredibly excited.
"We patiently waited for the results" after submitting the application last fall, Speidell said, and "We are ecstatic that we were one of the ones chosen."
He said The Green Solution has already begun extensive work on the South Main Street building that will house its Longmont shop but that it may be the end of the year before it opens its doors to customers.
The applicants that did not make the city's cut, and the Longmont locations they'd proposed for their marijuana shops, were Anaport Enterprises LLC, for a store at 165 Primrose Court, Unit B; Ancient Alternatives, doing business as Green Tree Medicinals, at 455 Weaver Park Road, Suite 900; Boulder Alternative Care LLC, at 1600 Hover St. Unit C-1; Brothers for Life LLC, doing business as Starbuds, at 1600 Hover St. Unit B-2; Euflora, at 260 S. Main St., Suite B; Herbal Wellness, at 1428 E. Third Ave.; Longmont Lightshade, at 1533 Main St.; Options Medical, at 455 Weaver Park Road; and RFSCPX LLC, doing business as RootsRX Longmont, at 12000 Rogers Road.
Frick wrote in the Marijuana Licensing Authority's order about the choices that the applications from the four businesses selected, "Taken together, best provide convenience of location to the residents of the city, are compatible with surrounding neighborhoods with minimal impacts thereto, and represent a great diversity of retail choices and ownership of licenses backed by strong business and security plans.
"Taken together," and in consideration of the municipal code, "these applications provide the greatest benefit to the city and its inhabitants by offering and maintaining the safest environment, the best service and the fewest negative impacts to the community," Frick said.
The October 2017 council decision to eventually allow up to four retail marijuana sales businesses to operate in Longmont amended the city's years-old prohibitions against medical-marijuana dispensaries and shops selling marijuana for recreational use.
Voting last fall to permit up to four shops were then-Mayor Dennis Coombs and Councilwomen Polly Christensen, Bonnie Finley and Joan Peck. Voting against it were then-Councilmen Jeff Moore, Gabe Santos and Brian Bagley.
Bagley is now mayor. Councilwoman Marcia Martin and Councilmen Aren Rodriguez and Tim Waters were not on the council at the time of last October's vote.
Last November, Longmont voters approved a council-initiated ballot question that will impose a special tax on retail sales of marijuana in city-licensed stores. That tax will start at 3 percent, although the council could raise it to 15 percent in future years.
It's been projected that the special tax could generate as much as $1.3 million annually when it's collected for a full year from four shops. Half of the revenues from the marijuana sales tax are to be earmarked for affordable-housing programs.
