While marijuana businesses often face intense competition, government regulation, stigma and legal barriers across the country, in Pasadena, some of these roadblocks have been dialed up enough to make the Crown City a national outlier.

Just ask Christian Nitu, who works for a company that’s one of 122 applicants vying to be among just a handful of legal weed dispensaries in Pasadena. The Pasadena native has spent the last decade working in seven states in the heavily regulated cannabis business.

When it comes to regulation, “I would say Pasadena is the most restrictive,” he said.

Nitu’s company is competing for one of six dispensary slots. But the so-called green zone in Pasadena is small: Buffers around schools and residential areas further limit the number of suitable storefronts, a pool that’s already small because of other cannabis-specific challenges.

The result may be that only a few dispensaries open in Pasadena next year, industry experts say.

“We’ve studied everything. When you look through Pasadena,” Nitu said, “there really isn’t much.”

Nitu of Coastal Dispensary was among the speakers at a forum held Thursday by the Pasadena and Foothill chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

More than two decades after medical marijuana was legalized in California and 2 1/2 years after voters made it legal for recreational use, there’s a huge public information void in this nuanced world. “So we decided to take the lead on it,” said the architect group’s president, Jay Zapata.

Marijuana destination

How tough is for a retail marijuana business wanting to locate in Pasadena? If six dispensaries do open, that would represent less than 5 percent of all applicants. You’d have a better shot getting into Caltech.

“Pasadena has been the most competitive city that I’ve ever been in,” Nitu said. “This is definitely the most competitive one by far.”

But that isn’t dissuading cannabis entrepreneurs. How can the most restrictive city also be the most competitive? In short, because the market and geography allow it to be — there’s just not a lot of cities in Southern California where people can buy recreational marijuana, Nitu and others said.

Seven cities in Los Angeles County allow recreational marijuana sales: Bellflower, Culver City, L.A., Malibu, Maywood, Pasadena and West Hollywood. Orange County has one: Santa Ana. Outside of the desert, the Inland Empire has three: San Bernardino, Moreno Valley and Lake Elsinore, in addition to unincorporated areas in Riverside County.

The result is Pasadena will be the closest place to purchase marijuana for the millions who live between here and Rancho Cucamonga — making it a legal weed destination, at least for a time. Pomona is finalizing its regulations for legal sales.

‘Like Apple Stores’

Pasadenans wary of potheads infiltrating their city should worry not, the panelists said.

Those working in the cannabis business today come from Fortune 500 companies, and their ventures are funded with Wall Street money, said Christopher Bonbright, a commercial real estate broker whose clients include those in the pot industry.

“They’re very professional, they’re by the book, they’re following every regulation,” he said. “The stores look like Apple Stores. The notion that having these businesses in the neighborhood is actually going to be a negative I think is really a fallacy.”

Cities that want a high caliber of business should be choosy when issuing licenses, Bonbright said.

Pasadena officials have indicated the city’s rubric could favor stores reminiscent of the place where you buy an iPhone. And in line with Bonbright’s thinking, it will also consider a company’s financing, security and other factors.

Bonbright suggested that Pasadena’s green zone may be too restrictive. He and other panelists said they believe the city will loosen the restrictions following this round of application approvals, expected to be announced this summer.

Setting aside the city’s stringent requirements, it’s already tough to find a suitable location. Many landlords are hesitant to lease to marijuana businesses, Bonbright said. Commercial buildings with mortgages are ineligible to host a cannabis business; because the lenders are federally insured, such a lease could cause a bank to cancel the loan, he said.

The panelists said it’s important Pasadena use its resources to shut down unsanctioned dispensaries to create an environment that rewards licensed operators. Otherwise, the sanctioned businesses, which will likely charge more to cover taxes and fees, will be unable to compete with unsanctioned ones.

The city received a total of 128 applications for all types of legal marijuana businesses. Of those, 122 were for retail sales.

Architect Mark Gangi noted that all eyes are on Pasadena.

“A lot of times Pasadena will do something and then the rest of the small cities in the San Gabriel Valley say, ‘What’s Pasadena doing?,” he said. “Pasadena’s going to have a big impact on how this gets implemented in the region.”