Some areas of Denver that were poised to shrug off blight now could be stuck with hulking warehouses for years to come, thanks to another unintended consequence of Colorado’s medical marijuana laws.
And while that would be regrettable, it’s a preferable alternative to Denver’s city council attempting to yank permits already obtained by businesses that want to grow marijuana in those big warehouses.
It appears that plan has stalled, as its architect, City Councilwoman Judy Montero, told us late Monday that after discussing the matter with the city attorney, she no longer believes the city could legally rescind permits already issued.
The dynamic at work springs from the new laws approved this past spring by the Colorado General Assembly, and championed by state Sen. Chris Romer of Denver, who is considering a run for mayor.
Because the new rules require medical marijuana dispensaries to grow 70 percent of the drug that they sell, an estimated 1 million square feet of warehouse space in Denver now houses medical marijuana growers.
Much of that space had languished unoccupied, but growers obtained so-called agricultural husbandry permits in order to grow the weed and created a mini rush on the market.
In 2009, Denver issued about 10 of the permits. By the end of October, the city had issued 250 permits, according to The Denver Post’s Christopher N. Osher. And though the permits don’t require the applicant to state what is being grown, observers believe most of them went to medical marijuana growers.
The growers are paying good money for warehouse leases, and in some cases seeking contractual clauses that would allow for future ownership of the spaces that some have spent hundreds of thousands dollars to retrofit.
Not so long ago, before the state’s new medical marijuana laws took effect, some warehouse owners might have been inclined to take advantage of Denver’s new zoning laws to redevelop the old buildings to better fit their surrounding communities. But now they can make more money renting to medical marijuana growers.
A poster child for the conflict is the Brighton Boulevard area north of downtown Denver, where “new urbanism” developers and advocates say a LoDo-type renaissance is now in jeopardy.
Councilwoman Montero, who represents the community, wanted the council to rescind the agricultural husbandry permits issued to the growers. She remains intent on finding a compromise. We understand her frustration, even if we disagree with her original tactic.
Years of community discussion and input created the new zoning codes that went into effect this summer, and her community sought the revision that allows more commercial and residential uses. In fact, one of the warehouse owners who recently signed a five-year lease to a cooperative of growers had planned to raze the space and develop condominiums.
But retroactively denying a permit to businesses already spending their money to occupy a space would have been bad civic policy, and whatever solution Montero advances now must avoid trampling the rights of the owners of private property.
