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Woodland Park adopts local rules for natural-medicine healing centers and related businesses
Summary
After a public hearing with veterans, clinicians and proponents describing therapeutic uses, the Woodland Park City Council adopted Ordinance 1494 to regulate time, place and manner for natural-medicine healing centers and related businesses under Colorado's Proposition 122.
The Woodland Park City Council voted unanimously on April 17 to adopt Ordinance 1494, amending the city code to set local time, place and manner rules for natural-medicine healing centers and related businesses under Colorado's voter-approved Proposition 122.
City Attorney Betsy Bennett briefed the council that Proposition 122 (adopted in 2022) permits the state-licensed use of certain natural-medicine compounds for adults 21 and older and that municipalities may regulate the time, place and manner of such operations but cannot enact outright prohibitions that conflict with state law. Bennett said the Colorado Department of Revenue handles business licensing and the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) handles facilitator licensing.
The ordinance defines two categories: natural-medicine healing centers, where licensed facilitators provide supervised sessions, and natural-medicine businesses other than healing centers, which include cultivation, manufacturing and testing. The council adopted local limits including hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., restrictions that indoor activities must be screened to prevent public view, and a land-use framework that makes healing centers a permitted use in neighborhood commercial, community commercial and service commercial districts. Cultivation and other non-healing-center businesses are permitted by right in light industrial zones and require a conditional-use permit for community commercial and service commercial zones.
During a public hearing, several local veterans, therapists and applicants urged passage. Licensed professional counselor Eli Varney and other veterans described therapeutic benefit for trauma survivors, urging flexible hours to accommodate shift workers. Therapist Lauren Atencio and other clinicians emphasized that preparation and integration services are critical and that clients must remain on-site during journeys and may not leave with the medicine.
Planning staff noted planning commission recommended limited changes from council direction: adding the ability for a healing center to cultivate product for its practice in some cases, and clarifying that cultivation in non-industrial districts would require conditional-use review before planning commission and council. The ordinance also includes a screening requirement (18.8.0.07) to prevent public view into treatment spaces.
The council voted by roll call: Nikai — yes; Gere — yes; Harvey — yes; Jones — yes; Smith — yes; Bryant — yes; Case — yes. Mayor Kelly Case noted the moratorium on local approvals would expire upon adoption. The ordinance text and zoning amendments will now guide local permitting and conditional-use review for applicants seeking to operate healing centers or cultivation/testing facilities within city limits.
City staff and commissioners said state-level licensing and oversight remain the primary enforcement tools for facility and facilitator compliance; the city retains authority over local permitting, hours, screening and zoning.
