delayed<\/a> since a City Council quorum was not present. It was pushed once again because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\nIn February and March, though, Cortez Police Lt. Andy Brock was directed to reevaluate the safest route from GOAL Academy to the proposed marijuana shop location. Previously, the city had measured the distance as beginning at GOAL Academy (2531 E. Main St., adjacent to the Hunan Chinese restaurant), traveling west up to the intersection of Colorado Highway 145 and U.S. Highway 160, crossing 160 via the crosswalk on the westernmost side of the intersection, and then heading east to 503 Patton St. Colorado 145 does not have a crosswalk at that intersection.<\/p>\n
This measured distance would be 1,680 feet.<\/p>\n
But Brock stated in his evaluation that the safest route was walking directly across U.S. Highway 160 from Lakeside Drive. If this was the case, the distance would be 865 feet \u2014 meaning the shop wouldn\u2019t be in compliance with the state\u2019s distance requirement of 1,500 feet away from a school.<\/p>\n
Although this alternative requires crossing without a crosswalk, jaywalking is not illegal by city or state law, Brock said, and it would avoid the traffic of the intersection at Colorado 145 and U.S. 160.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn summary, and in my opinion, it would be safer to cross at Lakeside St.,\u201d Brock wrote in his report. \u201cI say this because of the congestion and the difficulty crossing between the two islands at the Main\/Hwy. 160 intersection.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the city code: \u201cSaid distance shall be computed by direct measurement from the nearest property line of the land used for nonlicensee purposes to the main entry of the building in which medical marijuana business occurs, using a route of direct pedestrian access measured as a person would walk safely and properly without trespassing, with right angles at crossings with the observance of traffic regulations and lights.\u201d<\/p>\n
To meet Plewe\u2019s order, the city had to conduct the hearing in a \u201cquasi-judicial\u201d manner, which was redefined by City Attorney Mike Green at the council\u2019s Feb. 25 meeting. It operated similarly to a court hearing, with witnesses sworn in by the city clerk, before giving testimony and answering questions from the attorneys from both sides.<\/p>\n
The hearing focused on the distance regulations and on whether or not GOAL Academy constituted a school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is NuVue\u2019s position that the testimony of any interested person must be focused on distance,\u201d NuVue attorney Greg Whitehair said at the hearing\u2019s onset. \u201cIt can be talking about the school, whether it\u2019s a school, it can talk about the distance from the school, and the safety of the paths.\u201d Testimony could not focus on whether or not cannabis was a good idea, or if there were too many dispensaries in Cortez, he said.<\/p>\n
Witnesses from both the city and NuVue testified. The city presented evidence that the road crossing at Lakeside Drive was safest, citing reports showing fewer accidents there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got cars coming in every direction, and if you\u2019re crossing from west to east, you\u2019ve got cars that are coming in behind you that you have to watch for,\u201d Brock said of the 145-160 intersection, while being questioned by City Attorney Mike Green.<\/p>\n
However, Whitehair argued that the crosswalk at the intersection of Colorado 145 and U.S. 160 was the safest route, with various road and traffic experts testifying this was the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe transportation systems function on order and established rules and practices,\u201d Jim Horn, an engineer with SEH Inc., wrote in a report. \u201cDriver expectation is that pedestrians cross at safe and well-marked intersections. A signal-controlled intersection such as US 160\/SH 145 is the preferred location for pedestrians to cross, as vehicles are stopped for the pedestrian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another issue arose over whether GOAL Academy was technically a school. While GOAL Academy serves as an alternative, online high school, enrolled students do show up periodically for tutoring and support.<\/p>\n
The city held that GOAL Academy is a school, presenting a statement from a school accreditor, along with a few local news articles. Cortez Associate Planner Neva Connolly testified that it was a \u201cpublic charter school\u201d under the city\u2019s land use code.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land use code defines school as \u2018school means the use of a site for instructional purposes on an elementary or secondary level approved under the regulations of the state,\u2019\u201d Connolly said.<\/p>\n
Whitehair, though, questioned the timing of the permit\u2019s issuance, which came after the lawsuit was filed, and added that defining GOAL as a \u201cschool\u201d could open the city up to future issues with other online institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of a school being a physical place and space for students really has to be what\u2019s intended,\u201d Whitehair said.<\/p>\n
Two community members participated in the public hearing: One man asked staff for clarification regarding student activity at GOAL Academy and on the distance measurements, and another opposed the shop\u2019s opening, agreeing that the Lakeside crossing was safest and adding that there are already several other marijuana stores in Cortez, and that marijuana cultivation drains water resources. Whitehair, though, asked that the latter testimony be stricken from the record since it was unrelated to distance.<\/p>\n
A few councilors asked some questions of witnesses while testimony was being given, but other than that, there wasn\u2019t much council discussion on the licensing.<\/p>\n
Near the conclusion of the four-hour hearing, Green asked councilors a series of questions regarding whether or not NuVue met the licensing requirements set by the city\u2019s Retail Marijuana Code. The councilors assented to all the points, and then unanimously approved the license.<\/p>\n
ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"lawsuit, second hearing, NuVue Pharma can set up shop in Cortez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,21,318,13,28,135,29,1610],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-municipal-government","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-marijuana","tag-newsletter","tag-recreational-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88125,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651\/revisions\/88125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52651"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}