A previous settlement between Boulder County and the landlord of an improperly operating medical marijuana grower is restricting another cannabis company’s desire to expand, a lawsuit filed this week Boulder County District Court alleges.
Wild Horse Enterprises LLC is suing the Boulder County Board of Commissioners and the county’s community planning and permitting department, claiming officials are misinterpreting a 2016 settlement with Emerald Investments Two Ltd., or EIT, the owner of the Broadway property on which Wild Horse runs a marijuana cultivation business.
In the summer of 2012 the county initiated a zoning enforcement action against EIT related to unlawful cultivation of medical marijuana at the parcel, including building without a permit. The landlord and the county reached a settlement in 2016 that restricts, with certain exceptions, the types of cannabis businesses that are allowed to operate on portions of EIT’s Broadway property.
Later that year, after the medical marijuana growers were evicted, Wild Horse began the process of getting the necessary permits and licenses to open a retail cannabis business on property leased from EIT.
After the retail cannabis cultivation operation was up and running, Wild Horse began the process of applying to expand its business to include a dispensary and infused-product manufacturing facility. What Wild Horse didn’t know, the lawsuit says, is that the county could interpret sections of the settlement with EIT as prohibiting those new uses.
“At no time did any person or agent of Boulder County, including CP&P, tell Wild Horse that it would not be able to expand its operations in the future, or that retail marijuana cultivation was the only approved marijuana establishment use permitted at the parcel.”
This May the county issued a letter denying Wild Horses requests to expand the business. The county has said it will respond to the lawsuit by Nov. 1.
The county, Wild Horse’s lawsuit claims, is “misinterpreting the terms of the settlement agreement, and its determination is decidedly inconsistent with the settlement agreement.” The company is asking a judge to overrule the county’s denial and allow Wild Horse to build an infusion operation and retail store.
The lawsuit is Wild Horse Enterprises LLC v. Boulder County Commissioners et al, case number: 2023CV307, filed Oct. 11 in Boulder County District Court.
