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On a wall inside Frank Quattrone's office hangs a framed white sheet of paper.
It's nothing fancy, just a few printed words and numbers, with a faint official seal in the background.
What it represents, though, is more remarkable. Quattrone's business, Pure Medical Dispensary, is one of the first stores in Denver history to be specially licensed to sell marijuana, and that piece of paper proves it.
"It didn't look like I expected it to look," Quattrone said of the license, which arrived last week after weeks of negotiating city hall bureaucracy. "It didn't have any bling to it."
Denver officials have received 259 applications for medical-marijuana dispensary licenses. After a lengthy review process, the city has issued three.
Pure Medical, on Bannock Street south of downtown, and Walking Raven dispensary on South Broadway were issued licenses Wednesday. A third dispensary, Sunnyside Alternative Medicine on West 38th Avenue, was issued a license Friday.
The Denver City Council approved an ordinance this year requiring all dispensaries in Denver to have a special license â?? becoming one of the few cities in the state to require such approval. Those that applied for a license before March 1 were allowed to stay open while their applications were processed.
The ordinance also set up operating rules for dispensaries. Penny May, the director of Denver's office of Excise and Licenses, said no one has been ticketed for violations, such as being open without applying for a license or allowing on-site consumption.
May said the application processing has been running smoothly, despite the large number of applications and the numerous steps each application must undergo on its way to approval.
"It's going well," she said. "The applicants have done their due diligence in getting all their requirements in."
Applicants must undergo a background check, submit dispensary diagrams and security plans, and pass inspections on everything from fire safety to signage to zoning location.
Quattrone jokingly said the process was like jumping through spinning hula hoops, with inspections turning up unexpected obstacles.
"It just wasn't quite all spelled out when they banged the gavel and the ordinance was made," he said.
Some dispensaries have had more unpleasant surprises than others. Eleven applications have been denied so far because the dispensaries are located in inappropriate zoning. Those dispensaries are allowed to remain open while they appeal.
Steve Wiskow â?? who owns Green Karma Medical on Capitol Hill â?? said he was told his dispensary would have to move because, while the converted mansion he and a number of other businesses occupy is zoned for commercial use, the surrounding neighborhood is zoned residential. Wiskow said he is appealing but marveled at how complicated the process is, even for a business veteran.
"I've built companies from scratch," Wiskow said, "but this is the most difficult because every day it changes."
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or
[email protected]
Read more: Denver's pot license process often hazy - The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_14775798#ixzz0jcxQOdEG)