{"id":8311,"date":"2018-05-30T17:26:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T17:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3066201"},"modified":"2018-05-30T17:26:21","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T17:26:21","slug":"no-ganja-yoga-yet-denver-denies-license-for-marijuana-spa-citing-proximity-to-child-care-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/no-ganja-yoga-yet-denver-denies-license-for-marijuana-spa-citing-proximity-to-child-care-center\/","title":{"rendered":"No ganja yoga yet: Denver denies license for marijuana spa, citing proximity to child-care center"},"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\/no-ganja-yoga-yet-denver-denies-license-for-marijuana-spa-citing-proximity-to-child-care-center\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>A Denver business that hoped to open the nation\u2019s first legal marijuana spa has come up short \u2014 by about 20 feet.<\/p>\n<p>The city\u2019s licensing director Wednesday denied <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/02\/09\/denver-marijuana-spa-utopia\/98532\/\">a license application filed by Utopia All Natural Wellness Spa and Lounge<\/a> to allow marijuana consumption in an old Capitol Hill mansion, citing its location 980 feet from a child-care center. City regulations for the voter-approved social marijuana use ordinance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/06\/30\/denver-final-social-marijuana-use-rules\/\">require businesses that seek consumption-area licenses<\/a> to be at least 1,000 feet from day cares.<\/p>\n<p>Had it been approved, <a href=\"https:\/\/utopiawellnesslounge.com\/\">Utopia<\/a> would have received the second license issued under Initiative 300, which was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2016\/11\/14\/denver-social-marijuana-use-measure-wide-lead-updated-results\/\">passed by 54 percent of Denver voters<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Utopia founder and CEO Cindy Sovine had appealed to Denver licensing officials for leniency and submitted a letter from the child-care center supporting a waiver of the proximity restriction, but the city\u2019s decision says it lacks that authority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have almost a year and a half invested into this property, from the time I first started thinking about it and working on it,\u201d Sovine said. \u201cI\u2019m definitely not ready to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She questioned the city\u2019s inflexibility, noting that her plan had support from the landlord, neighborhood groups and even the child-care center, adding: \u201cI think this is a perfect example of why I-300 is not being implemented successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she considers her options, Sovine could appeal Wednesday\u2019s license denial to a city hearing officer. Ashley Kilroy, the executive director of the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses, suggested Sovine also could abandon plans to occupy the Creswell Mansion, at 1244 Grant St., and seek a new property for Utopia.<\/p>\n<p>In February, <a href=\"https:\/\/thecoffeejointco.com\/\">The Coffee Joint<\/a> in La Alma\/Lincoln Park <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/02\/26\/denver-approves-first-social-marijuana-license\/\">won approval for the city\u2019s first license<\/a>\u00a0for a 21-and-over, bring-your-own marijuana consumption club. It\u2019s next door to a dispensary with shared ownership.<\/p>\n<p>Not many other applications have come in. Some cannabis-minded entrepreneurs have run into difficulty finding properties that are outside buffers surrounding schools and child-care centers and also in areas where local neighborhood groups will support their plans, as required under the initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Sovine has set out plans at Utopia for cannabis-infused massages, ganja yoga, spiritual counseling and other services during the day. She also planned to have indoor and outdoor marijuana-consumption areas in the afternoon and evening for members and to make the facility available for weed-friendly events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole idea is to create social opportunities to bring people together,\u201d Sovine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/02\/09\/denver-marijuana-spa-utopia\/98532\/\">told The Denver Post<\/a>\u00a0this year.<\/p>\n<p>She said her plans for the spa were rooted in her exploration of the therapeutic potential of marijuana since her father battled lymphatic cancer. She also <a href=\"http:\/\/denver.cbslocal.com\/2018\/02\/07\/cannabis-spa-marijuana-pot-club\/\">hoped to create<\/a> a social setting friendly to medical marijuana patients.<\/p>\n<p>But ultimately, the city\u2019s mapping software determined that the Creswell Mansion was too close to Third Way Center, a day care at 1133 Lincoln St., about\u00a0three blocks away. Third Way serves at-risk and disadvantaged youths and their families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf our businesses don\u2019t meet proximity requirements, we deny them,\u201d Kilroy said. \u201cIt would be unfair to treat her any differently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Utopia\u2019s application drew support from five neighborhood organizations, but it had not yet faced a public license hearing. Besides its proximity to the day care, Kilroy said, the business still had not worked out issues that included obtaining a proper zoning-use permit for the building and submitting sufficient odor-control plans.<\/p>\n<p>Kilroy said she weighed the proximity issue first, and carefully. She has some leeway on location restrictions, she said, such as when a part of the building that\u2019s not used for the business juts out too far, causing the business to fail a distance test.<\/p>\n<h3>Should the city exercise more discretion?<\/h3>\n<p>But in this case, Kilroy said, Utopia acknowledged the building was a little too close to the day care. Kilroy cited recurring instances in which the city denies liquor licenses because a proposed store is too close to another liquor store and rejects event-based liquor license requests\u00a0if they\u2019re filed past the deadline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve talked to city attorneys, and I don\u2019t really have any discretion in this area,\u201d Kilroy said.<\/p>\n<p>The Denver City Council recently created a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.denvergov.org\/content\/denvergov\/en\/denver-city-council\/council-committees\/social-consumption-area-task-force-.html?cq_ck=1520444823489\">Social Consumption Area Task Force<\/a> to review the ordinance. Some members have urged the panel to probe why so few licenses have been sought or granted so far, and the June 14 meeting will focus on the distance requirements, said Councilwoman Kendra Black, the task force\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, she weighed in on the Utopia denial:\u00a0\u201cI believe it is within the discretion of the (licensing) director to grant an exception in a case like Utopia, when the day care is in support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critics of the city\u2019s distance rules point out that they close off much of the city to social consumption licenses.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3067198\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/no-ganja-yoga-yet-denver-denies-license-for-marijuana-spa-citing-proximity-to-child-care-center\" alt=\"A map produced by software company Canna Zoning shows in green where Denver businesses can obtain cannabis consumption establishment licenses, if they meet all requirements. Areas shaded red represent zoning districts where licenses aren't allowed as well as 1,000-foot buffers surrounding schools, child-care centers and treatment centers.\" width=\"1113\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Image from Canna Zoning<\/p>\n<p>A map produced by software company Canna Zoning shows in green where Denver businesses can obtain cannabis consumption establishment licenses, if they meet all requirements. Areas shaded red represent zoning districts where licenses aren\u2019t allowed as well as 1,000-foot buffers surrounding schools, child-care centers and treatment centers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>The voter initiative itself imposes a 1,000-foot buffer between schools and licensed businesses with marijuana-consumption areas. Last year, after a committee weighed additional rules and regulations, Kilroy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/06\/30\/denver-final-social-marijuana-use-rules\/\">adopted similar buffers<\/a> for child-care centers, as well as alcohol and drug treatment centers.<\/p>\n<p>Those proximity restrictions drew protests from the initiative\u2019s original backers, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/06\/30\/denver-final-social-marijuana-use-rules\/\">contended they limited the potential locations<\/a> for licensees too much. But Kilroy argued those buffers were reasonable because they mirrored location restrictions for marijuana shops, and her office cites thousands of potential viable properties for different kinds of businesses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here is the city\u2019s licensing decision:<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside> <\/aside>\n<aside> <\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>A Denver licensing official says a business that hoped to open the nation&#8217;s first legal marijuana spa is too close to a child-care center &#8212; by about 20 feet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,6811,6847,6861,6813,7524,6848,77,5577,5667,6886,9,5019,441,1,3,61,1736,5987],"tags":[2632,6816,6850,6862,6818,7527,6851,2655,5580,5673,6889,5022,3015,5992],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8311"}],"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=8311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}