People have mixed reactions to Pueblo’s first retail marijuana draft ordinance
Pueblo is closer to allowing the sale of recreational marijuana.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission held a public meeting Wednesday to present the first draft of the retail marijuana ordinance.
The city would be mirroring the regulations set by Aurora.
Pueblo would cap the number of stores at eight. Two would be in each city district. The applicant would need $400,000 in hand to show they have sufficient funds to operate. The city will also implement a point system to determine who receives a license. For example, applicants would earn points by following the procedures in the ordinance like what is in their operating and business plans.
Jerry Pacheco, a senior planner for the city, said the reason why Pueblo picked Aurora’s model is because it fits the city.
“I think it’s a good start, to reach that balance of having stores, but not a super proliferation of stores,” he said.
Pacheco said the city’s worry about opening the recreational marijuana stores involves saturating the market.
Most of the people at the meeting support having recreational marijuana shops in the city, but they want the rules to change from the original draft.
Tommy Giodone lives in Pueblo County. He said eight shops to start with are too many.
“I just think everyone needs to let it simmer down a little bit and let’s see what the market can handle. You can always add more to anything,” he said.
Most of the crowd said the Aurora rules would favor bigger marijuana shops outside the county and put the local shops in Pueblo at a disadvantage since the bigger shops have more money.
Randy Russell owns Pueblo West Organics. He said if more shops come into Pueblo, the county would be flooded with marijuana shops. He said when retail marijuana first became legal to sell, it was a boon, but by summertime last year, he started to see his sales decline.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will have a work session regarding this ordinance next Wednesday at 9 a.m. at City Hall. The group plans to vote on the ordinance on March 25. It will then be up to City Council if Pueblo will have recreational marijuana shops.
If you want to view the ordinance, click here.
