{"id":7014,"date":"2016-11-30T00:28:38","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T00:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2235191"},"modified":"2016-11-30T00:28:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T00:28:38","slug":"final-chance-to-vie-for-auroras-final-pot-shop-license-coming-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/final-chance-to-vie-for-auroras-final-pot-shop-license-coming-to-an-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Final chance to vie for Aurora\u2019s final pot shop license coming to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/final-chance-to-vie-for-auroras-final-pot-shop-license-coming-to-an-end\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>More than two years after the first recreational marijuana storefront opened in Aurora, the opportunity to apply for the city\u2019s 24th \u2014 and final \u2014 pot shop license is ending.<\/p>\n<p>Retail marijuana businesses have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to file applications for a chance to open a shop in the southeast part of Aurora. The city will rank applicants and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/03\/17\/aurora-looks-at-points-system-for-pot-shop-applicants\/\">select a winner using a points system<\/a>.\u00a0Credit is awarded for past marijuana business experience and a clean criminal record, for example.<\/p>\n<p>The city said it will make a decision on a winning application by Feb. 1. City spokeswoman Julie Patterson said so far only one business has submitted an application to occupy that final storefront, although she expected at least one more to get an application in by the end of Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal was to have a limit on the number of stores, and we wanted them to be dispersed throughout the city,\u201d Patterson said of Aurora\u2019s retail marijuana rules.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Aurora Councilwoman Barbara Cleland was one of several city leaders who in 2014 devised what was then a unique approach in Colorado to regulating the nascent cannabis industry, putting in place a citywide cap of 24 stores and the requirement that no more than four of those storefronts could locate within any of the city\u2019s six wards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took our time in setting the process,\u201d Cleland said Tuesday. \u201cWe thought it would be a much more deliberative process. I feel that\u2019s paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aurora has collected approximately $8 million in marijuana tax revenue <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2014\/10\/13\/first-aurora-recreational-marijuana-shop-euflora-open-monday\/21297\/\">since the first shop in the city opened in October 2014<\/a>.\u00a0Recreational marijuana sales in Colorado <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/01\/01\/worlds-first-legal-recreational-marijuana-sales-begin-in-colorado\/\">began on Jan. 1, 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we have done differently is we have set aside the marijuana money \u2014 it doesn\u2019t go into the general fund,\u201d Cleland said.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the programs that cannabis earnings have helped fund in Aurora are $2 million in debt service payments for the construction of a $30 million recreation center; $1.5 million for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2016\/05\/09\/homeless-getting-help-thanks-to-this-colorado-citys-local-pot-taxes-2\/\">outreach efforts to the homeless community<\/a>; and $3.8 million in transportation projects, including a turn lane from Alameda Avenue to Interstate 225.<\/p>\n<p>Aurora projects it will collect $6.7 million in 2018, when it expects all 24 stores to finally be up and running. Currently, there are 19 pot shops operating in the city. Medical marijuana sales are not permitted in Aurora.<\/p>\n<p>Not all has gone smoothly with Aurora\u2019s recreational pot sector. In June, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2016\/06\/19\/aurora-police-seek-two-after-pot-security-guard-gunned-down-in-robbery\/\">security guard was shot and killed at Green Heart Dispensary<\/a>\u00a0at 19005 E. Quincy Ave. Diana Cooley, a spokeswoman for the Aurora Police Department, said there has been \u201can increase\u00a0in crime due to numerous burglaries at these locations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition, the stores have required significant attention from APD due to quarterly inspections and background investigations that are conducted by APD personnel,\u201d she wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post.<\/p>\n<p>Euflora was the first pot shop to open in Aurora and has since opened a second location in the city. Manager Colin Patrick on Tuesday said \u201cbusiness has been great\u201d over the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re the closest shop for people in Castle Rock and Elizabeth,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get all the people from Douglas County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recreational marijuana sales are illegal in every municipality in Douglas County and in the unincorporated parts of the county as well.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick said his Euflora location on Gun Club Road is the only pot shop within a 4-mile radius. He attributes that to the forward-thinking system city leaders came up with limiting the density of shops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice,\u201d he said, \u201cto see them spread out \u2014 so they are not in such direct competition with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than two years after the first recreational marijuana storefront opened in Aurora, the opportunity to apply for the city&#8217;s 24th &#8212; and final &#8212; pot shop license is ending. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6857,6813,6848,77,5577,5667,9,5019,441,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6859,6818,6851,2655,5580,5673,5022,3015],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}