Pubdate: Sun, 28 Sep 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Carlos Illescas

AURORA TO START POT SALES, BUT STORES NOT READY

Licensing Delays Could Keep All 21 Recreational Marijuana Shops 
Closed for Wednesday's Kickoff.

Aurora - Talk about a soft opening. The city of Aurora is going live 
with recreational marijuana sales for the first time Wednesday. But 
of the 21 businesses that received licenses to peddle pot in the 
city, there may not be any that actually will open their doors on the 
monumental day.

Because Aurora didn't have medical marijuana sales, it had to wait 
until Oct. 1 of this year to allow recreational sales and create 
regulations from scratch. But after taking more than a year to 
finalize those guidelines, Aurora then had a tight time frame to 
license businesses, which has played a big factor in the expected low 
opening-day numbers.

One current site for a proposed pot shop is still selling used 
appliances off Peoria Street. Another has mechanics working on 
vehicles at an auto garage. A third site is empty and looks abandoned 
next to a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant along East Colfax Avenue.

Near Southlands mall in far southeast Aurora, crews late last week 
were busy sawing off drive-through vacuum tubes at a former bank 
building, which will be home to the Euflora pot store on South Gun Club Road.

"I hope we have more than one opening," Aurora Marijuana Enforcement 
Division manager Robin Peterson said last week. "For whatever reason, 
we weren't able to get all the plans in. And once we did, it was 
difficult for plan examiners to get through them because they've been 
so backlogged."

That one store was supposed to be Euflora, but co-owner Jamie Perino 
said last-minute permits and other issues are forcing the shop to 
delay its opening for about a week.

Perino said she and her partner can't wait to sell the green stuff in 
one of the city's most affluent areas, Ward 6.

"We're really excited because we're going to be ahead of the game 
there," Perino said. "There's a little more expendable income out there."

Aurora's foray into recreational marijuana sales caps a nearly 
two-year process after statewide voters in November 2012 approved 
Amendment 64, which allows for the sale and possession of up to an 
ounce of marijuana.

After more than a year of debate, Aurora in May finally adopted 
regulations on marijuana sales. It began accepting applications July 
1 and closed the process a month later. The 21 licenses the city 
awarded were approved in late August.

That gave store owners about a month to renovate a site and pass city 
inspections.

"There are a lot of things necessary for anybody to move in, not just 
the marijuana guys. Interior walls going up, you have to have 
inspections, electrical people," Peterson said."We've had a 
few(almost ready) but not as many as I would have thought by now."

Aurora is allowing 24 recreational marijuana stores - four in each of 
the six city council districts. But only one, Euflora, met the city's 
stringent requirements for a pot license and will open in Ward 6.

Applications for the remaining three licenses in southeast Aurora 
still are being accepted.

When Denver began allowing marijuana sales Jan. 1, there were 18 
shops that opened on the first day, said Denver spokeswoman Amber 
Miller. There now are 96 pot shops open in the city.

Denver has had medical marijuana shops open for several years, so it 
was easier for some of those owners to add recreational sales at 
those facilities.

Brian Ruden, who owns Starbuds on Del Mar Parkway in Aurora, said he 
plans to open his shop in mid-to late October. Like other owners in 
Aurora, Ruden has several marijuana facilities in place in other 
cities and can draw on those experiences.

"Aurora is a phenomenal opportunity because Aurora is nearly as large 
as Denver yet will only have 24 dispensaries," Ruden said. "The 
population-per-dispensary ratio is so much greater in Aurora than it 
is in Denver."

According to 2013U.S. Census data, about 345,000 people call Aurora 
home; Denver is at 650,000.

Next door to Starbuds, Gabby Gonzales owns a beauty shop. Initially, 
when she heard a recreational marijuana shop would be opening next 
door, she was "in shock." But after learning about the business and 
thinking of the bigger picture, Gonzales said it might not be such a bad thing.

"I'm hoping to get some of their customers," she said. "They're going 
to come here to get the marijuana. Maybe they'll also get a haircut."

Aurora's shops will have a big advantage over their counterparts to 
the east- an extra three hours to sell at night.

Denver pot shops have to close by 7 p.m., while Aurora's rules allow 
for closing time at 10 p.m.

"It was definitely intentional," said Aurora City Councilman Bob 
Roth, who was chairman of the committee that set the marijuana 
regulations. "We made the conscious decision for the competitive 
nature of the business in Aurora that we would let operators stay open later."

Roth isn't concerned about how many marijuana stores open Wednesday 
because the city is in it for the long haul, he said, and it's better 
to do it right, even if that takes a little more time.

"In retrospect, I don't think I would have done it any different," he said.

Aurora's sales tax rate of 3.75 percent is expected to generate about 
$2.8 million annually on marijuana, according to city estimates. If 
voters in November approve an additional 2 percent tax just on pot, 
that would mean another $1.1 million for city coffers.

While the number of pot shops in Aurora is capped at 24, a future 
city council could increase that number.

Because of the number of shops already in Denver and the city's pot 
restrictions, such as how close they can be to schools, "you can't 
find places in Denver to expand," Perino said.

Once the Aurora shops get up and running, retail marijuana appears to 
have a bright future.

"It's the new frontier," Perino said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom