Superior mulls lifting marijuana-sales prohibition

SUPERIOR — Town officials in Superior will hold a hearing Monday evening to consider an ordinance that would lift the municipality’s prohibition on marijuana businesses.

Superior’s Board of Trustees decided in 2013 to ban cannabis sales, cultivation and production businesses. Erie is the only other Boulder County jurisdiction with such a prohibition.

The ordinance under consideration would allow for both retail and medical dispensaries within Superior town limits, according to a town memo.

“A store can’t be within 1,000 feet of a school or other regulated marijuana store,” the memo said. “A store owner must submit a plan, with their application, for ventilation of the medical marijuana store that fully describes the ventilation systems that will ensure the odor of marijuana cannot be detected by a person with a normal sense of smell at the exterior of the medical marijuana store or at any adjoining property. Background checks are required as part of the licensing application process.”

Town code specifically prohibits cannabis businesses within the Downtown Superior neighborhood boundaries, but that could be changed if a qualified applicant comes forward with a plan for a downtown dispensary. 

“The (Boulder County) Sheriff’s Office doesn’t expect there to be a significant increase in crimes if the retail marijuana sales are allowed in town,” the city memo said.