Two years after 57% of voters opted against the sale of recreational cannabis in Colorado Springs, voters passed Ballot Issue 300 with a little more than 54% in favor of sales for the first time in the city.
Colorado Springs currently limits medical cannabis shops from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and childcare facilities. The newly approved ballot measure would function similarly by allowing only existing medical cannabis shops to sell recreational cannabis as well.
The measure limits the number of recreational licenses to the existing number of medical cannabis licenses, meaning no new cannabis businesses would open. If those existing businesses opt in to sell recreational marijuana, they will receive dual licenses allowing them to sell both medical and recreational marijuana. Tax revenue from recreational sales will go toward public safety, mental health and veteran PTSD programs.
Although the passage sounds straightforward, especially with the defeat of 2D which would have banned recreational cannabis sales in the city charter, there are still questions. The Colorado Springs City Council passed a zoning ordinance a few weeks before the November elections.
In a 7-2 vote, the city council approved a zoning ordinance that would essentially ban any future recreational sales within city limits by requiring that recreational facilities not operate within a one-mile radius (compared to the current 1,000-foot radius) of schools, childcare or drug and alcohol treatment facilities. No current medical cannabis shop can meet that requirement.
“We are actively conducting research to understand what the election results mean for our community,” says City of Colorado Springs spokesperson Vanessa Zink. “This includes a close review of the existing medical dispensaries and the retail cannabis distance requirements currently in our zoning code, and what City Code changes are needed to apply the citizen-initiated ordinance (300). We are aiming to share this analysis by the first of the year.”
