Five of the six medical marijuana businesses the city of Boulder ordered to shut down will be allowed to stay open until a hearing is held on their appeal requests. Five of the six medical marijuana businesses the city of Boulder ordered to shut down will be allowed to stay open until a hearing is held on their appeal requests.

The sixth remains closed because it did not appeal the city's order to close down.

The city sent six cease-and-desist letters to Boulder marijuana businesses earlier this month after a review of their business license applications found problems with background checks for five of the businesses and a zoning issue for the sixth.

But, city spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said Friday, the decision to allow them to stay open was reached after an attorney for some of the businesses disagreed with the city attorneys' interpretation of the code.

The city maintained it could issue a cease-and-desist order as soon as a decision was made to deny a business license, while the businesses' attorney said the law required the city to wait until a quasi-judicial hearing is held.

Huntley said the city still believes it has the right to shut the businesses down now but decided to let them re-open until the hearing.

"We didn't want to fight over someone's due process rights," Huntley said. "We want to give businesses in the community every chance to succeed."