The Denver City Council effectively rejected a proposal early Tuesday morning to cap the number of marijuana retail and cultivation site locations in the city, which would have limited the industry’s growth.
The measure would have applied to both medical and recreational businesses, but not testing labs or infused product manufacturers.
It failed after a 6-6 vote in which one council member was absent.
The measure is far from dead, however.
The paper noted that the council member who was absent previously voted to advance the bill from committee, so it could pass the second time around.
The council faces a May 1 deadline, when an existing moratorium on new marijuana business licenses – both medical and recreational – is set to expire.
In the latest vote, council members debated the issue until after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Several council members wanted to amend the bill to deny pending business licenses that were on their way to full approval, potentially costing investors millions of dollars. Multiple amendments to that effect failed before the bill itself died.
Council members heard an hour of impassioned public testimony from industry officials who opposed the amendments and from members of the public who complained their neighborhoods are overrun with cannabis companies.