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Councilors debate 1,000‑foot school buffer, home‑practice and zoning options for psilocybin services
Summary
Council members discussed whether Aspen should keep the state's 1,000‑foot buffer from schools and prohibit operations in residential zones, and expressed concern about home practitioners and potential retailization without zoning controls.
Council discussion focused on how zoning could shape local access to state‑licensed natural medicine businesses. Assistant City Attorney Louisa Byrne said the state provides a 1,000‑foot exclusion from child care centers and schools for certain operations and that local governments may increase that buffer: "So our ability is very narrow... Can you regulate where city natural medicine businesses may operate, including restricting for further the allowed distance from schools."
One councilor said they were "fine with the 1,000 feet" given Aspen's small footprint but expressed concern that facilitators could operate out of home offices and that the city should reserve commercial or office zones for these services. Another councilor warned that without zoning limits, the practice could become "quasi retail" similar to how cannabis developed, citing examples seen in other states. Councilors asked staff to return with zoning‑based options that could keep healing centers and facilitators in appropriate districts and out of strictly residential neighborhoods.
The council did not set a final numeric buffer at the meeting and requested more information on licensing standards and precedent from other Colorado cities and Oregon.
