Process
Pursuant to State Law, all applicants for a retail marijuana license must first apply to the State Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED). The MED will forward a copy of the application along with one-half of the application fee to the Town of Ault. For all other applications, please submit materials with full fee payment. Upon receipt, the Town will review the application materials and contact the applicant to request additional materials as needed.
Comment. Following the application window described above, the town clerk or designee shall open a public comment period of 21 days during which any person may comment on the received applications for the record. The town clerk or designee shall post notice of such comment period on the town’s website. The authority may extend the comment period as necessary, in its determination, to elicit robust public comment. The authority may restrict the form and manner of public comment so as to provide for an orderly process and to foster the pertinence of comments to the selection of factors described in subsection C.2, below. Town departments, including but not limited to, the community services department, the planning and development services department, the public safety department, the finance department, the town clerk's office, may also file recommendations on the applications with the town clerk or designee. Members of these departments who are also members of the selection division shall not participate in the formulation or submission of such recommendations.
Selection.
- From among the applications received, the selection division shall make recommendations to the authority who may select applications to whom a conditional license is awarded. The number of such conditional licenses, in addition to the number of active licenses within the town, shall not exceed the cap set forth herein. The selection division shall make its selections based on a multi-factor balancing test, considering the totality of the circumstances, with the overall goal of selecting those applications which, taken together and in consideration of any active licenses within the town, provide the greatest benefit to the town and its inhabitants by offering and maintaining the safest environment, the best service, and the fewest negative impacts to the community.
- Factors. The following are factors the selection division shall consider and weigh in making this determination:
- a. Whether the application is for a location already licensed by the state and serving as a retail marijuana store outside the town and proposed to be annexed into the town, which factor shall be weighted heavily;
- b. The applicant's experience operating a licensed marijuana business in Colorado, including compliance with state and local laws, or violations thereof;
- c. The degree of moral character of the applicant and the applicant's principal officers, directors, controlling beneficial owners, managers and employees;
- d. The impact of the proposed establishment on the neighborhood surrounding the proposed location, the community as a whole, and the natural environment, and the applicant's commitment to take specific measures to mitigate such impacts;
- e. The convenience of the proposed location to the residents of the town, considering any synergies, redundancies, or conflicts posed by the proposed locations of other marijuana store applications and existing marijuana establishments;
- f. The compatibility of the proposed location with the surrounding properties, including aesthetic considerations;
- g. The apparent conformity of the application to the zoning of the proposed location, as an initial matter and with the understanding that full land use review would follow the award of a conditional license;
- h. The diversity of retail choices the applications would bring to the town;
- i. The applicant's ability to demonstrate, through a business plan, its ability to operate and develop the proposed establishment in a highly regulated industry;
- j. The applicant's demonstrated ability to operate an effective and lawful analogous business in the town;
- k. Diversity of ownership of licenses, including consideration of ownership of any active licenses or establishments outside but near the town limits;
- l. The quality and detail of the proposed security plan, business plan, community outreach plan, and other application materials;
- m. The clarity and duration of the applicant's site control of the proposed location;
- n. The potential for crime in the proposed location;
- o. The degree of detail and completeness provided in the application, and the extent to which the application includes false or misleading information; and
- p. Any other unique benefits the application would present to the inhabitants of the town and any other factors that may be relevant.
3. Grounds for denial. Any application may be denied which violates any of the following restrictions:
- a. No applicant may submit more than one application in response to any request for expression of interest.
- b. No location shall serve as the proposed location for more than one bona fide application in response to any request for expression of interest.
- c. The application does not meet one or more of the applicable criteria set forth herein.
Should the authority receive fewer applications than the maximum the authority is authorized to award, or should fewer than such maximum demonstrate an acceptable level of satisfaction of the factors listed in subsection C.2 above, the authority may award fewer licenses than such maximum.
Selection order. The authority shall issue a written order stating the determinations of the selection division and a brief explanation of the basis thereof, and awarding any conditional licenses as determined by the authority. Such licenses shall be considered approved, but shall not permit marijuana sales or operations under this chapter until they are finalized as described below. The secretary of the authority or the town clerk or designee shall post selection orders online, shall notify the public thereof by publication, and shall notify each affected applicant by certified mail at the address on the application.
Land use review. No license shall become final until the director of planning and development services, or designee, certifies to the authority that the applicant has received all necessary approvals under the land development code (not including permits and approvals required under Title 16 of the Ault Municipal Code) to begin operating within the town as described in the application. As an exception to the provisions of the land development code, decisions of the planning and development services director on application approvals necessary to begin operating within the town as described in the license application shall be final and shall not be appealable to any town body, but shall be reviewable under Rule 106 of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure.
Final license. Upon receiving the certification described in subsection F above, for a license, passage of a final inspection as described in subsection 5.13.230, and receipt of all applicable fees due, the authority shall issue a final license allowing a marijuana store.