The Park County commissioners have 30 days to decide whether or not to renew three marijuana licenses for the Happy Camper Cannabis Company, LLC.
The company currently holds licenses for a marijuana retail store, cultivation and infused product manufacturing.
The licenses were first approved Oct. 2, 2014 and renewed Oct. 15, 2015. Licenses must be renewed annually by both the state and county.
Sept. 29, the commissioners decided instead of renewing the licenses that issues raised in an opposition letter, including lack of employee training and a small fire in the manufacturing area, merited investigation. They set a license renewal hearing for Nov. 3.
Renewal hearings are required only if reasons may exist to deny the renewal or add conditions to the license.
This is the first time the commissioners have held a renewal hearing on any marijuana business in the county.
The hearing was the result of a letter opposing the renewals from Al Sandoval, owner of A.L.S. Construction, Inc.
The company is the owner of property on Crow Hill at 80 Rosalie Road where the Happy Camper is located.
Sandovals letter alleged violations of the state marijuana code, county regulations and the countys resolution approving the Happy Campers licenses plus civil disputes brought against The Happy Camper and its owner Dan Sprague by Sandoval and his wife Gina, a former the Happy Camper employee.
The county planning department staff report stated that the states medical enforcement division, division of water resources, Park County Sheriffs Office and the Platte Canyon Fire Protection District all confirmed that there were no violations by the facility per their inspections or reporting requirements.
In September 2016, Park County building, planning, environmental health, code enforcement and public health departments held an inspection of the facility and found no violations.
The fire district confirmed that the district was notified of a small fire that was extinguished before a fire truck arrived at the facility.
The fire was the result of a heat gun placed too close to a roll of paper towels in the extraction room. No extraction operations were taking place at the time.
The staff report stated a complaint was made about signs on U.S. Highway 285 and staff called Colorado Department of Transportation.
CDOT confirmed they had installed business directional signs for the Happy Camper on both sides of U.S. Highway 285 near Rosalie Road at the companys request.
The staff report said this violated conditions of the license approval.
One condition of the original permit was that no signage was allowed other than one at Happy Campers gate.
At the beginning of the Nov. 3 hearing, County Commissioner Chairman Mike Brazell read a statement saying the hearing was to determine if good cause existed to deny the renewal.
He said three items constituted good cause. 1. Violations or noncompliance with state rules, county regulations and/or conditions of the license approval. 2. Evidence that operations negatively affected public health or public safety. 3. Evidence of drug-related criminal activity or a continuing pattern of such activity.
Brazell said no testimony outside the listed items would be heard.
Happy Camper was represented by Colin Moriarty of Underhill Law P.C. located in Greenwood Village.
Moriarty called Sprague and three employees with management and/or supervisory authority at the facility as witnesses. All testified under oath regarding alleged violations raised by Sandoval and the CDOT signage.
Sandoval was represented by Jean Smith-Gonnell of Hoban Law Group, LLC located in Denver.
Gonnell cross-examined each witness that Moriarty called to the stand, made statements both verbally and in writing on the alleged violations, but did not have the Sandovals or anyone else testify in opposition to the licenses renewal.
Moriarty objected to Gonnells written statement and its allegations because it was received too late for him to review and respond.
The commissioners allowed her to use it and its allegations in her remarks.
Issues raised
Gonnell claimed the CDOT signs were not only a violation of marijuana signage regulations and the license conditions, but also violated the state rule prohibiting outdoor advertising.
Moriarty claimed the signs were directional signs not advertising and did not violate the license condition because CDOT directional signs are not part of the countys jurisdiction.
Happy Camper witnesses testified the signs were requested because customers had trouble finding the facility. Workers received many calls asking for directions after trying to find Rosalie Road because the street sign was hard to see from a traveling vehicle on Highway 285.
Witnesses said the signs increased safety on Highway 285 where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour in that location.
County Attorney Lee Phillips said there are conflicting arguments regarding the legality of directional signs and the issue has not been resolved, either in court or in the state rules.
Gonnell claimed the renewal application was incomplete and in violation because it didnt list James Fleming as a 25 percent owner, and two pages of the industrial hygiene certification were missing.
Sheila Cross, development services director, said the application contained all three, but some pages for Gonnell were copied as single sided when in fact the pages were double sided.
Another issued raised by Gonnell was lack of required disclosure of all persons with financial interests, including loans to the company.
Moriarty said loan disclosure is required for active loans at the time of application or renewal, not loans that were repaid.
Sprague said he had repaid several loans, but still had one outstanding with Sandoval. He said it was reported to the state.
Gonnell asked if it was disclosed with the 2016 renewal and Sprague said he couldnt remember.
Gonnell alleged in her statement that Sprague and employees used marijuana while working and put pictures on Happy Campers Facebook page.
Office manager for Happy Camper, Lauren Reybal, testified that what looked like smoking marijuana was a photo shoot that simulated smoking but no marijuana was used. She and others said anyone using marijuana on the job would have been fired immediately.
Gonnell alleged Happy Camper gave away free marijuana at a marijuana event in Denver called Sensi Night.
She claimed Sprague and others smoked it on a bus brought to the event by Happy Camper.
The state marijuana code states marijuana cannot be given away or smoked in public.
Moriarty said there was no evidence that marijuana was provided for free; and if there was free marijuana, there was no evidence that it was from Happy Camper.
He also alleged that Gonnells law firm was at the event and on Happy Campers bus.
He said the bus transporting people to Sensi Night was a private party that required an RVSP and smoking at a private party was not considered smoking in public.
He said if the state decided to investigate allegations of free marijuana and public smoking at Sensi Night, many marijuana companies would be investigated.
An issue in Sandovals earlier letter said employees werent properly trained.
Several witnesses called by Moriarty testified to training procedures that include written instructions, shadowing another employee, shadowing the person in training and, lastly observing the trainee from a distance as part of training.
The county staff report stated employee training records and procedures by Happy Camper were reviewed during the county inspection.
Another allegation Gonnell made was that the owners were involved in criminal activity.
Moriarty said background checks were run on both Fleming and Sprague and traffic tickets did exist on Flemings record. But evidence of any criminal activity that would constitute a reason to deny the renewal was not found.
Another allegation was that vandalism at Happy Camper was not reported.
Brian Grabow, Happy Camper business development manager, testified that he met the sheriff deputies at Happy Camper when the alarm inside went off as the result of a rock being thrown at the entrance doors window.
He said the window had spider track cracks, but was not broken and it was replaced within two days.
He said no entry was made into the building nor were any suspects still onsite when he and the deputies arrived.
Security cameras showed someone throwing the rock, but his face was covered so he could not be identified.
Moriarty said a report of the incident had been filed with the Sheriffs Office.
In closing arguments, Gonnell said enough evidence existed to deny renewal of the licenses.
Moriarty said there was no evidence that gave good cause to deny the licenses. He requested renewal of the licenses and if any state investigation was initiated over allegations at Sensi Night, then the state could prosecute if any violation was found.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Commissioners Hear The Happy Camper Marijuana License Arguments
Author: Lynda James
Contact: 303-838-4423
Photo Credit: Lynda James
Website: The Flume
