YOUR AD HERE »

Summit County’s marijuana moratorium likely to be extended

Robert Allen
Summit County, CO Colorado

BRECKENRIDGE – Unincorporated Summit County will likely have to wait another six months or more before it has a set of medical marijuana dispensary regulations.

During a public hearing Tuesday, Sheriff John Minor told the Board of County Commissioners he was concerned about passing a law “that allows something that may not be allowed in a few months.”

The Colorado General Assembly this session is considering legislation that could limit medical marijuana caregivers to five patients, which could quash dispensaries that have popped up across the state – and local communities – in the past year.



“I don’t want to make a bigger deal of this than need be, but I think what Sheriff Minor is recommending to us makes a whole lot of sense,” Commissioner Thomas Davidson said.

Plans proposed for dispensaries in the county would limit them to commercial and industrial zoning and require security systems – among other regulations similar to what have been passed by towns such as Frisco and Breckenridge.

Support Local Journalism



The proposal also includes set distances from schools, public parks and churches.

An existing, 120-day moratorium on county dispensaries was enacted Oct. 27. Commissioners are to consider an extension at the next meeting, and discussion of the regulations is postponed to the June 8 BOCC meeting.

Frisco resident Bernie Zurbriggen said during the public hearing that he was concerned with measurement discrepancies between the medical marijuana dispensary proposal and existing regulations for sexually oriented businesses.

“In (county code) it basically says that you would measure from the property line of the sexually oriented business to the leasehold” of a church or school, he said.

The dispensary proposal would apply from lot line to lot line, Zurbriggen said.

“I can tell you from experience this makes a big difference,” he said.

For example, lot lines for a business in a complex would be farther out than its leasehold.

Robert Allen can be contacted at (970) 668-4628 or rallen@summitdaily.com.


Support Local Journalism