Trinidad City Council hopes to prevent “pot” themed mini-mall development

by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — On Friday, Sept. 4, the Trinidad City Council failed to pass the second reading of an ordinance to stop the issuance of conditional use permits (CUP), and licenses for the sales of either medical marijuana or recreational marijuana.  The motion died for lack of a second.
The special meeting was called after city council was overwhelmed during their regular meeting on Tuesday, with statements against a moratorium from pro-marijuana business operators and owners by a twenty-to-one ratio. 
The council took the occasion to amend and pass, on a 7-0 vote, an emergency ordinance requiring there be no more than one marijuana business entity per physical address per building.  The emergency ordinance will be active for only 31 days.  Council then adopted, on a 7-0 vote, the first reading of the permanent ordinance to amend the city’s retail and medical marijuana codes to require the same regulations outlined in the emergency ordinance.   They set a public hearing date on the issue for Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 1:30 pm.
The action puts an end to plans laid by real estate developer Sean Sheridan whose buildings are currently under contract.  Sheridan has tenants committed to setting up businesses in the already subdivided buildings.  The retail concessions to be built inside the building would sell recreational marijuana, others would sell medical marijuana, and still others would sell marijuana themed products such as marijuana based cosmetics, clothing, and food.  “This plan allows business operators to save on rent and the cost of having to bring the point of sale areas up to current state security codes for retail marijuana businesses,” Sheridan said.  “Since July we’ve been losing about $20,000 in rent.  If this is unsuccessful, then the buildings return to the previous owners according to the conditions of the contracts.”
The item that the Trinidad City Council seemed to shy away from was the idea of 17 to 25 “kiosks” in the same building, competing for the same customer base.  But they would also be competing with the many other marijuana businesses across the city.  And because of the large number of outlets in the same location, marijuana could come to dominate business in Trinidad.  
Businesses which even now have spent several millions of dollars purchasing buildings for grows and storefronts, or refurbishing property in areas where buildings were becoming dilapidated, stand to lose big if their businesses should fail.
But, according to Sheridan in his plea to the city council to reconsider the moratorium, “The marijuana industry is only with us for a short time.  It will not be thriving here in a generation because all our neighboring states will figure out how to regulate and tax the industry themselves.”