Pot Smoking Club Under Scrutiny
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - The city of Englewood, a south suburb of Denver, is trying to figure out if a private marijuana club can continue to operate.
At first glance the building on South Broadway might be confused for a bakery. It's called iBake. The sign gives a strong hint at what it's all about. It indicates smoking is legal inside.
When CBS4's Rick Sallinger stopped by, a group from Minnesota was paying the $10 monthly membership and a $4.20 daily fee to join those already puffing away. Jeff Pawlowski, a club member, told Sallinger, "A lot of us come in here because they cannot consume cannabis in the place where they reside."
Although the owner prefers to call it a pipe and tobacco store allowed for smoking under the Indoor Clean Air Act, it's clearly a marijuana club. There are pot-related games and of course "munchies" for sale.
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The debate with the government of Englewood is whether the city knew iBake was for pot use when they opened over a year ago.
"I would say we never tricked anyone. We were forthright from the day we came here," iBake owner Marty Fuchs told CBS4.
Now comes a city-generated April 2015 memo entitled "Private Marijuana Club," in which an Englewood staffer stated it was permitted to operate.
City Attorney Dugan Comer was astounded. He said at a city council meeting, "Had I seen this before, our conversation regarding iBake and what we were going to do with them would be completely different."
The city council has now banned marijuana clubs and the issue has become whether iBake was given proper permission before that.
"At one point we were told we were grandfathered. Now it's not settled," Fuchs said.
There is another iBake under separate ownership in Adams County. It has been cited for a zoning violation.
Marijuana clubs are not permitted in Denver, but two issues could be on the fall ballot to make them legal in the city.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.