The city of Colorado Springs has fallen months behind schedule in processing medical marijuana business license applications, forcing some shops to close their doors.

Of the 122 medical marijuana business license applications submitted to the city by a Sept. 30 deadline, only two have received local approval and licenses from the state.

“There are a variety of reasons the process is taking longer than anticipated,” Cmdr. Thor Eells of the Metro Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Division said Tuesday in an email.

“Often applications are incomplete and are returned for corrections. The state is backed up with their own process and is delayed in forwarding/returning paperwork that is needed to proceed at the local level. These are but a few reasons for the delay,” he wrote.

The applications the city is reviewing are for businesses that were already in operation and that had pre-registered with the city before the September deadline.

The Police Department is responsible for conducting local and national background checks and financial backgrounds, such as hidden ownership interests, Eells said.

The department is also responsible for “investigating any ancillary criminal violations that are discovered, and conducting audits on the applicant locations,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the state’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, which checks the city’s applications, did not immediately return a call for comment.

In Colorado Springs, 16 businesses totalling 40 licenses have received approval from the city and are awaiting state action, Eells said.

Eighty-four other applications are in various stages of review, said Lee McRae, a license enforcement officer in the City Clerk’s Office, which handles business licensing.

“We had originally predicted it to be three to nine months to get those 122 applications through the process,” he said.

That leaves about 20 applications that have either been denied or withdrawn.

“City Code does not require any reason for an application to be withdrawn, and the denial reasons vary,” McRae said via email.

At least 11 applications were withdrawn, including a handful of business owners who have gone under or because the city was taking too long in issuing licenses, said Tanya Garduno, president of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council.

Businesses are caught in a bit of a catch-22. They have to submit a permit in order to move, but can’t receive the permit unless they have a license. Because the state and the city are so backed up on issuing the licenses, some of the businesses have been forced to close.

“Since the licensing hasn’t been complete at the city level, there’s no mechanism for them to be able to move and relocate,” she said. “Unless you have a license, you can’t move anywhere.”

For example, Provenance Care at 6422 N. Academy Blvd. had to close when its landlord wouldn’t renew the lease, said Garduno, who was a partner in the operation.

“Unfortunately, it’s taking a lot longer than some of these folks need in order to be able to move,” she said.

Indispensary, a medical marijuana center downtown, was forced to close because it’s 910 feet from Palmer High School. The U.S. Attorney for Colorado sent letters in January to marijuana businesses withing 1,000 feet of a school telling them they must close within 45 days.

“They had no option to move,” Garduno said.

The only two medical marijuana businesses in Colorado Springs with licenses from the state are Briargate Wellness Center, 890 Dublin Blvd., and We Grow Colorado, 2502 E. Bijou St.

Medical Marijuana products line the shelves of The Herb Shoppe Medical Center on W. Colorado Ave. Office manager Gina Hains looks over the shelves on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Jerilee Bennett