{"id":7282,"date":"2017-03-13T20:02:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T20:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2571161"},"modified":"2017-03-13T20:02:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T20:02:04","slug":"denver-council-opts-to-take-more-time-on-measure-to-allow-midnight-closing-for-marijuana-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-council-opts-to-take-more-time-on-measure-to-allow-midnight-closing-for-marijuana-shops\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver council opts to take more time on measure to allow midnight closing for marijuana shops"},"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\/denver-council-opts-to-take-more-time-on-measure-to-allow-midnight-closing-for-marijuana-shops\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>The Denver City Council\u2019s marijuana special-issue committee on Monday opted to solicit more input instead of advancing a\u00a0measure that would extend the city\u2019s pot shop sales to midnight.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of a two-hour meeting, at least two things were clear: The prospect of changing Denver\u2019s current latest closing time from\u00a07 p.m. to allow evening hours is\u00a0inviting plenty of pushback. Some skeptics are neighborhood advocates who worry about tight street parking and late-night noise and crowds near homes. Also raising concerns is Smart Colorado, a group that advocates for tighter restrictions on legal cannabis to protect children.<\/p>\n<p>But it was equally clear Monday that at least a half-dozen council members \u2014 and possibly a majority \u2014 support some form of extended evening\u00a0hours.<\/p>\n<p>When the committee revisits the proposal in coming weeks, it\u00a0appears more likely that its members\u00a0will advance a 10 p.m. sales cutoff to the council floor than a midnight closing time.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Kristi Kelly, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, told the committee that she and store owners were seeking a level playing field amid concern about sales lost to Denver\u2019s neighbors. Edgewater and Glendale allow sales until midnight, and Aurora and Commerce City cut them off at 10 p.m. Meanwhile, liquor stores in Denver can stay open until midnight.<\/p>\n<p>A few\u00a0neighborhood advocates who testified during a public comment period expressed support for a 10 p.m. closing time. That included\u00a0Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation\u2019s Margie Valdez, who said her zoning and planning committee overwhelmingly supported that time.<\/p>\n<p>But some council members, including Chris Herndon and Debbie Ortega, remain opposed or at least\u00a0skeptical of the industry\u2019s\u00a0case.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the supporters of extended hours agreed to slow down the debate. The committee will discuss the issue further at another session in coming weeks, and it\u2019s likely the council will allow for public comment again if the measure makes it to the council floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s almost common sense for me to allow at least 10 o\u2019clock\u201d for recreational and medical marijuana stores, Councilman Paul L\u00f3pez said. \u201cI\u2019m OK with us debating it and talking about it a little more. But at the very minimum \u2026 it\u2019s not outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The committee\u2019s chairwoman, Kendra Black, will invite city licensing and finance officials, police and some opponents to present information about the potential effects of later hours. Smart Colorado had requested equal time after seeing that the meeting agenda included only the industry group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore any action is taken by this committee to advance a bill expanding store hours, we request that the committee provide equal time to presenters with knowledge of the potential unintended consequences of the extension of center hours,\u201d Henny Lasley, that group\u2019s co-founder and executive director, wrote in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/councilwomanblack.pdf\">a letter to Black<\/a>\u00a0late last week.<\/p>\n<p>Lasley\u2019s letter cited several statistics from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/cdphe\/hkcs\/reports\">2015 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey<\/a> showing that Denver students were more likely to self-report using marijuana or having easy access to it than students statewide.<\/p>\n<p>She suggested that the committee request presentations on the operating hours proposal from Denver school officials, adolescent health experts, youth-serving organizations and public-safety officials before considering the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>That position in some ways was\u00a0predictable, since Lasley\u00a0spoke out against the idea of longer operating hours during <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/01\/11\/denver-evening-pot-shop-hours\/\">a general discussion by the committee in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the measure is sparking worries among non-activists, too.<\/p>\n<p>Kodie Ketchbaw lives a few doors down from a corner with three marijuana stores at the corner of West 38th Avenue and Clay Street in Sunnyside. She planned to voice her opposition to extended\u00a0hours to council members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring their business hours, the traffic, honking (and) inability to park in front of my own home is absolutely infuriating,\u201d she wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post. \u201cExtending the opening hours of the pot shops would only further aggravate an already unacceptable situation, in my opinion. It is only after the shops close that the street clears and we are able to park without issue and get some much-needed peace and quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Midnight is the latest closing time allowed by state law, which leaves it to local officials to set more restricted operating hours. Denver\u2019s ordinances currently allow dispensaries to operate between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some neighbors of marijuana shops and a group that advocates for tighter restrictions on cannabis are pushing back against a Denver proposal for a midnight sales cutoff. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,6811,7001,6885,6813,77,5577,6815,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,6816,7002,6888,6818,2655,5580,6820,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282"}],"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=7282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}