City Rejects Proposed Dispensary in Westwood Neighborhood

A new dispensary won’t be coming to southwest Denver after its owners failed to convince the head of the Department of Excise & Licenses that the area needed another pot shop.

First Class 2 LLC had hoped to open a dispensary called Red Roots at 3680 Morrison Road, a few blocks from West Alameda Avenue. After looking at the number of nearby dispensaries, though, a city hearing officer didn’t see enough demand for more retail marijuana within the Westwood neighborhood, and Excise & Licenses Executive Director Molly Duplechian agreed with that determination.

There are ten licensed marijuana dispensaries within two miles or a five-minute drive of that location, according to Duplechian’s July 21 decision. While she noted that testimony and affidavits in support of Red Roots suggest that another store would be “helpful,” she added that “not a single witness testified that they have any issues obtaining retail marijuana from the marijuana stores near the neighborhood.”

According to the final decision, community support for the new dispensary was mixed. Councilmember Jamie Torres, whose District 3 includes the neighborhood, opposed the proposed store, as did Westwood food co-op Re:Vision, registered Westwood neighborhood organization Hecho en Westwood and 137 people who signed a petition against the application.

On the other side, 127 people signed letters in support of Red Roots; at the hearing, a nearby property manager voiced her desire for a new dispensary. The other two witnesses to testify in support were the applicant’s owners, according to Duplechian. No registered neighborhood organizations were listed as being in favor of the application.

Community conflict over the dispensary location largely centered on concerns over increased crime and the number of pot shops that are already open nearby. Duplechian agreed with Red Roots ownership that more retail marijuana “would not have a negative impact” on the health and safety of Westwood; she said she even “agrees to some extent” that the hearing officer should have afforded “the correct weight” to the medical value of marijuana. Still, she determined that Red Roots “failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the retail marijuana stores in or near the neighborhood are not adequately serving the neighborhood.”

Red Roots would have been the third dispensary in the metro area under owners Gabriel Lindsay and Neelein Shead, who also own a Cookies dispensary in Commerce City and a new Elite Cannabis store in south Denver, as well as a commercial growing operation in west Denver, according to the state Marijuana Enforcement Division. Neither Lindsay nor Shead could be reached for comment.