UPDATE: Adams County is having technical difficulties.
BRIGHTON — Today at 3 p.m. Adams County will select 10 entrepreneurs to begin the process to open a marijuana business in an unincorporated area of the county.
The county got 1,608 applications for three retail stores, three grow facilities, three infused-product manufacturing facilities and one testing facility.
The 10 selected applicants have six months after the drawing to get a state license, building permit and change-of-use permit for their business.
While the names will be draw, they won’t be made public until after the winners have been notified.
If a lottery winner doesn’t have all of that within six months, the county will call the next name that was pulled from the lottery, and that person would begin the process.
The drawing will be livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel.
Both the cap of 10 businesses and the lottery system will be for this year. After that, the county may consider more stores and facilities as long as there is enough space for them.
Last year, Adams County voters approved recreational marijuana operations in unincorporated parts of the county along with an additional 3 percent sales tax on all retail sales.
The Board of County Commissioners and the county planning department have been busy formalizing a set of regulations and zoning requirements for marijuana operations. The first code was adopted by the board Dec. 16.
The code only governs the sale and manufacturing of recreational marijuana. Medical marijuana is still not allowed in unincorporated Adams County, although it is allowed in Northglenn and Commerce City.
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
