John Scarffe, Nederland. After a discussion about a moratorium on retail marijuana establishments during a regular online meeting on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, at 7 p.m., the Nederland Board of Trustees called an emergency meeting for Tuesday, August 11, to take action on the item. The Emergency Ordinance imposes a temporary moratorium on the submission, acceptance, processing and approval of any license application for all retail and medical marijuana establishments.

During the discussion at the August 4 meeting, the Board directed staff to draft a temporary moratorium on issuance of marijuana licenses to consider possible limitations on the number of available licenses and other changes to the marijuana sections of the Nederland Municipal Code. Currently, the Town has five licensed marijuana businesses as follows: 1. Silver Stem: Medicinal and Recreation, 1 W. 1st St, #1D, 2. Harvest House aka: Apex Industries: Recreation and Cultivation, 211 S. Bridge St, 3. Flower Collective: Wholesale Nursery and Products, 91 Big Springs Dr., 4. Igadi: Recreational and Medicinal, 150 N. Jefferson St., Unit B3, 5. The Kind Castle: Recreation, 98 South Highway 119. 

According to the Colorado Constitution, Amendment 64, the Town has the authority to adopt time, place and manner restrictions for operating a recreational marijuana business and may also adopt regulations limiting the number of marijuana establishment operations. In 2011 and 2013, the Town adopted regulations for medical business marijuana licensing and retail marijuana business licensing. The existing marijuana regulations do not limit the number of available marijuana licenses for Nederland, according to the agenda information memorandum.

The existing regulations also do not provide for spacing requirements. At least five other jurisdictions in Colorado have placed limits on the number of available retail marijuana licenses, according to the memo.

In recent years, the Colorado General Assembly has significantly amended state laws regarding marijuana regulation, and these changes may require changes in the Nederland Municipal Code. The amendments also permit marijuana hospitality establishments, which allow patrons to bring their own marijuana to be consumed on-site and permit retail marijuana stores to have a consumption area within the premises. 

The local jurisdiction must decide to opt in to allow the hospitality establishments and consumption areas, according to the memo. “Moratoriums are common to allow governing bodies the opportunity to study and review regulations to determine whether amendments are necessary.” 

Draft Ordinance No. 810 calls for a six-month moratorium. If passed, the moratorium would stop the processing of any marijuana license applications and the Town could not accept any new applications.

Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen told the Trustees they need to have a vote of at least six to pass the emergency ordinance. The emergency ordinance will go into effect immediately. 

Mayor Kristopher Larsen said the Town had a moratorium on marijuana establishments, and the Board decided to revoke that about a year ago. Since then, the Town has heard from constituents who want to address the density or number of marijuana establishments. 

The Town has done its research and has the interest of the Board. Board members expressed concerns about the number of establishments and the idea of having an establishment where people use a lot of marijuana and get behind the wheel of a car. The strength of marijuana has gotten extremely strong. 

The marijuana industry pays a lot of rent, but Trustees are leaning toward the idea of the moratorium and then do some thinking about how to regulate the industry in the future. The codes the Town has don’t address this, so the Board should establish a schedule for changes to the code that will manage new eventualities. 

Madsen said the moratorium would not create any issues. It would stop processing, and once rules are in place, the town can change the rules.

Trustees favored the moratorium and seeing establishments come in that would replace those services. They should move forward, take this seriously and research this thoroughly with Boulder County Public Health, other cities and the industry.

The Town has five and doesn’t want anymore. Trustees don’t want Nederland to be a tourist destination for people to hang out and smoke.

Two members of the public spoke in favor of the moratorium and one spoke in favor of marijuana hospitality establishments where people can go instead of smoking out of doors or in non-smoking hotel rooms.

Larsen said he is in favor of putting together a schedule to come up with changes to the Town code and asked if any trustees would work with staff to bring in Boulder County Public Health and others to see what they want to change in the Town code, and looking at clubs for smoking use, and then bring that back to a Board meeting. 

Trustee Julian Taylor said he would work with staff to develop an analysis of Town code. “Nothing is more important than the definitions,” he said. The code will help the Board guide new businesses in directions that are safe for visitors, and they have a lot of ideas. 

Trustee Jonathon Baumhover said he would love to see them work with the industry and utilize the strength of professionals. Larsen said that Town staff has a lot of the information needed and could do something in three to four months. 

He suggested that at the regular meeting next week, Taylor and staff could propose a timeline to modify town code within the next month. The Board approved the ordinance imposing a temporary moratorium on the submission, acceptance, processing and approval of any license application for all retail and medical marijuana establishments.

The Nederland Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The next meeting will be on September 1, 2020. For more information go to https://nederlandco.civicweb.net/Portal/.

(Originally published in the August 20, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)