The Fremont County Commissioners dealt with the renewal applications for five medical marijuana (MMJ) licenses at a special meeting that was conducted on May 26th. One of the licensees, Pure Medical LLC, which operates at 440 8th Street in Penrose, sought not only a renewal of their medical marijuana cultivation license but also applied for an expansion of the growing area. Karlie Van Arnam explained that when the cultivation license was originally issued a year ago there was a misunderstanding over the growing area.
Van Arnam said their intent was to be permitted to grow MMJ within the entire fenced area at the site while the Planning and Zoning Department misconstrued and thus licensed only a covered canopy area for growing the marijuana. Van Arnam said the expansion application was to permit what was actually intended in the original application plus permission to erect a building for harvesting with an odor mitigation system. The building will add to security during harvest time and help with odor mitigation during the most fragrant part of the growing season.
Several Penrose residents testified in opposition to the modification. Clarice Roney who lives across the street from the facility said she gets marijuana odor from two different MMJ operations who end up pointing the finger at each other. Tony Gleiforst simply asked the commissioners to preserve the Penrose area saying, “Enough is enough”. Despite complaints, investigations over the past year about odor complaints from Pure Medical’s cultivation were unfounded according to Planning Director Matt Koch.
A motion by District 1 Commissioner Tim Payne to permit only construction of the building but not to expand the growing area died for lack of a second. Following a discussion in which the commissioners recognized that the county was in error for not identifying the correct growing area a year ago, District 2 Commissioner Debbie Bell offered a motion to approve the modification for both the building and the expanded cultivation. Bell added a stipulation that the board will revisit the expanded growing area a year from now to determine if more plants under cultivation create any negative impacts upon the neighborhood. The motion was approved on a 2-1 vote.
Also approved for MMJ renewals were:
- Pure Intentions Wellness greenhouse cultivation at 685 Highway 115 in Penrose—the former Bikertown property;
- Golden Meds greenhouse cultivation at 890 7th Street in Penrose—the Apple Valley greenhouses;
- Maggie’s Farm LLC greenhouse cultivation at 4211 County Road 84 near Rockvale;
- and Maggie’s Farm MMJ storefront location at the Country Green Shoppette at the east edge of Cañon City.