City council passed one of two ordinances concerning the regulation of marijuana businesses in the city at the Jan. 26 meeting.
Council approved an ordinance capping the number of marijuana storefronts at five and marijuana infused product manufacturers at three. The numbers represent the current number of marijuana establishments in Wheat Ridge right now and no new establishments can come into the city unless a current one vacates. However, council killed an ordinance that would allow marijuana businesses to co-locate medicinal and retail marijuana in a single establishment.
The approval of the first ordinance effectively lifts the moratorium on licenses for marijuana businesses that was first enacted in August.
The new ordinance is the culmination of a near seven-month debate of how to regulate marijuana in the city, after a proposed development at 38th and Miller threatened to be too close to schools and the recreation center for some community member’s liking. During that time period, some residents questioned the need for marijuana at all, arguing the potential risks the substance could impose of the future of Wheat Ridge.
District One Councilman Jerry DiTullio said that essentially the ship had already sailed on marijuana in Wheat Ridge and that these ordinances were more about regulation.
”This happened three years ago,” DiTullio said of allowing marijuana business into the city.
“Medical and retail sales were allowed in the city of Wheat Ridge by previous councils and so there’s been a lot of changes and moratoriums and more changes and more moratoriums over the last two or three years.”
Previous councils had made bad decision that the city would later regret, said Barbara St. John said.
“In the past, I have attended council meetings where they have deplored the fact that previous councils, many years ago, made very unwise decisions, and we are reaping the results of those bad decisions in zoning etc.,” St. John said.  “We need to stop these bad things from happening now.”
Also on hand was the owner of the property on 38th and Miller. Babak Behzadzadeh, an Englewood resident, said before he purchased the property for an estimated $600,000 he was told it was in the correct zone for a marijuana business. He said city staff told him if he removed the gas station on the property, his application for a marijuana license would go through as an administrative decision, which he was told would exclude a public process.
However, now Behzadzadeh faces new regulations that prohibit him from placing the business there. He and his attorney estimate that he will lose $200,000 on the investment.   
As for the ordinance on co-location, Councilman DiTullio made a motion to indefinitely postpone the bill, effectively killing it.
Council voted unanimously on the first ordinance and voted to kill the ordinance allowing for co-location by a vote of five to three, with councilmen George Pond, Tim Fitzgerald and Williams Starker voting against.