Pubdate: Sat, 02 Aug 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca
Page: 4A

PRISON-TO-POT-FACILITY DREAM BUDS IN BRUSH

A former medium-security prison turned marijuana grow house and pot
shop? Nicholas Erker's dream could become a reality, but first,
residents of Brush in northeastern Colorado would have to come around
to his idea.

The irony of a prison-turned-marijuana facility isn't lost on Erker,
the lifelong agriculture professional who remembers the
if-you-build-it-they-will-come moment that first inspired him to
create a cannabusiness.

"I was walking through the empty (prison) one day by myself and I
thought, 'This place would be perfect to grow marijuana,' " said
Erker, the vice president of Fort Morgan-based Erker Grain Company who
hopes to open a marijuana cultivation facility and recreational pot
shop in the 60,000-square-foot former prison at 901 Industrial Park
Road in Brush. "There's plenty of water, lots of electricity, it's
built of precast, 8-inch concrete walls, ceilings and floors, it's in
an industrial park away from the population and it's surrounded by 25-
to 30-foot exterior fences with razor wire on top - and there's also
an interior fence.

"You're not going to get more secure than this."

Erker's primary problem: The city of Brush has a moratorium on all
marijuana businesses. The City Council will either decide the
moratorium's fate on its own or put the issue to a public vote,
possibly in November. Either way, it comes down to what the community
has to say about the presence of marijuana in their city.

"We haven't heard anything from the citizens yet," said Brush City
Administrator Monty Torres. "We'll have a public comment period on
Monday night, and that will be the first time there will be community
input - outside of the council members who have had their own
discussions with citizens. But the council decided they'd like to hear
from the community before they decide on lifting the moratorium or
not."

The City Council will ask for public comment at 6 p.m. Monday at City
Hall during a "community meeting where the residents of Brush are
welcome to come and provide feedback to the City Council on if the
prospect of having a retail marijuana grow and sale facility in the
city of Brush would be desirable," Assistant City Administrator Karen
Schminke said.

The prison closed in 2010, leaving the future of its 85 employees and
an estimated annual payroll of $1.5 million in the lurch, according to
Erker.

"When you lose 85 jobs in any community, it hurts," said Erker, who
lives in Fort Morgan and bought the prison in March for $150,000. "In
a town the size of Brush, it really hurts."

After conversations with his investors - including his mother, Cynthia
Schmid, a former two-term Morgan County commissioner - Erker started
talks with the city.

"We sat down with the mayor and his team and told them that we think
we can create 31 jobs with an estimated payroll of $1 million with
sales tax revenues that increase their current sales tax collections
by 30 percent," Erker said. "Their current sales tax is $1 million,
and we're estimating that we could generate around $300,000 in sales
tax for the city of Brush through excise, sales and retail taxes."

On some levels, the proposal makes sense: Erker comes from an
agricultural background, and he vows to bring those professional
standards to this very different kind of farming.

"Our background is in agricultural processing and food sales, so we're
in a similar industry currently," Erker said. "We know what it means
to have food-safety measures in place. We want to carry that same
mindset and philosophy into this industry and use it to set an example
for what every other facility in the state could thrive to be.

"Almost 85 percent of Erker Grain's products are exports, with most of
them going to the Middle East. We're very used to governmental
regulations and requirements and see that could be a big advantage to
bring our knowledge into this new industry."

As Erker talks about his company's sunflower testing and standards,
the terminology is almost identical to that of cannabis.

"In the sunflower business, we're constantly looking for better
genetics, looking for seeds that are more characteristic of our
customers' liking," Erker said. "Some people like wider seeds, some
prefer darker colors, and we're constantly working to keep up with
market demands and testing varieties.

"This year we have 150 varieties of sunflowers growing in different
test plots in Colorado, Nebraska and Texas. Through those test plots
we're also testing for yields with farmers - we want to make sure they
have a good opportunity, too. We think we'll be able to carry that
same skill into the marijuana production, cultivation and sale."

On other levels Erker's proposal makes less sense. Brush sits in
Morgan County, which was a part of the recent conservative-led 51st
state measure that would have carved off the northeast corner of the
state to create North Colorado. The measure ended up failing, but
conservatives - who are more often anti-marijuana than liberals,
according to polls - got their point across.

"Marijuana is still a little bit controversial here," Erker admitted,
"but it has a great upside to the community - now and for years to
come."

The village of Log Lane, 15 minutes from Brush, approved the
cultivation and sale of medical and recreational marijuana in February.

"They're a very small community," said Erker, "but the people got
tired of not seeing any progress. They have a $2 million water tower
that needs to be paid for, and there's no economic growth coming to
that town."

Having more legal marijuana in northeastern Colorado would also reduce
the black market, Erker said.

"There's a huge black and gray market here, and it's because of the
lack of access to inventory," Erker said. "If we can eliminate those
markets, I think we'll see more acceptance. ... And as rural
Coloradans, we need to continue to provide opportunities and amenities
that people have easy access to on the Front Range, or else we won't
survive."
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MAP posted-by: Matt