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Planning commission recommends zoning limits for natural-medicine healing centers
Summary
The Wheat Ridge Planning Commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of an ordinance that would place healing centers providing state-regulated natural-medicine services in certain commercial, industrial and mixed-use zones while preserving a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and day cares.
The Wheat Ridge Planning Commission on Dec. 18 recommended that City Council adopt a local zoning ordinance to regulate "healing centers" that provide state-licensed natural-medicine services, voting 6-0 to forward the measure with a recommendation of approval.
The ordinance would amend Chapter 26 of the Wheat Ridge Code of Laws to identify the commercial, industrial and mixed-use districts where healing centers may operate and to embed a state-mandated 1,000-foot separation from schools and day care facilities.
City Attorney Jerry Dawn told commissioners the state has created a licensing agency to regulate natural-medicine businesses and that "the state statute is clear in saying that, no license issued by the state is effective or good, unless until a local license, if required, has also been issued." He said many Colorado jurisdictions are adopting local rules now so that local permitting and zoning align with the state licensing timeline.
Dawn described the city’s proposal as a middle-ground approach: the city would not create its own local licensing authority but would regulate the "place" aspect of time, place and manner — specifying in which zoning districts the centers may be permitted. He told commissioners the draft code allows healing centers as permitted uses in commercial and industrial zones (NCRC, C1, C2, IE) and in mixed-use districts, subject to the 1,000-foot school/day-care buffer and the maps included in the staff packet.
Commissioners asked a range of implementation questions. Commissioner Shelby asked whether the ordinance would regulate hours of operation; Dawn said the current draft does not set hours but noted the council had discussed potential limits and that cities could add hours or other time restrictions later. Dawn also said he expected the state to adopt related rules and that the city could layer additional requirements if problems emerged with existing operators.
Commissioner Moore asked whether newly proposed day-care locations would be reflected on the map; staff answered that once a day care is licensed it would be added and that the separation is effectively first-come, first-served for locations. Commissioner Grama asked whether a healing center would block a later day-care from opening; staff said a later day-care could locate in the same spot but a preexisting healing center would become a legal nonconforming use under the separation rule.
Commissioner Quinones asked whether the ordinance contemplates on-site administration only. Dawn and staff confirmed the local proposal regulates commercial, on-site healing centers; separate provisions of statute permit individual home cultivation or possession but those home-use provisions are not the subject of local regulation here.
No members of the public signed up to speak during the public hearing. After discussion the commission moved and seconded a recommendation to approve the ordinance amending Chapter 26 concerning regulation of natural medicine services and healing centers; the motion carried 6 to 0.
The item has already had first reading at City Council; staff said Council’s second reading was scheduled in January and that the state licensing agency is preparing to begin accepting applications in early January.
