As the year winds down, Pueblo has five recreational marijuana stores open -- with three license applicants still trying to get there.

City Council decided last winter to limit the number of recreational stores to just eight in the city, with four north of the Arkansas River and four south.

That triggered a land-rush atmosphere of sorts, with a flurry of applicants wanting to be among the chosen eight.

The city's Retail and Medical Marijuana Licensing Authority picked the top choices from 14 applications at a meeting in March in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

The North-Side stores that managed to get open this year are NuVue Pharma, 4740 Dillon Dr., and The 404 at 404 N. Greenwood St.

Open on the South Side are Earth Solutions, 2630 W. Pueblo Blvd.; Seven-One-Nine, 2927 Farabaugh Lane and Ripe Dispensary, 1237 Southgate Place.

"Some of the applicants have needed extensions on getting work done and some haven't even built a store yet," said Kelly Grisham, a city planner who helped draft the licensing rules.

The three city-approved applicants that haven't gotten their doors open yet are American Pride Growers, 875 Crane Ridge Drive (new construction); The Spot, 3504 N. Elizabeth St.; and The Green Solution, 1207 Southgate Place, on the South Side.

Grisham said that since the awarding of the first eight licenses, only one new applicant has come to city offices looking for a chance to join the line.

"There are deadlines built into the licensing application process, and if the board does not award extensions, that applicant could be out of consideration," she said. "So far, it's been granting extensions."

All license holders have to renew every 12 months.

City Manager Sam Azad said it's too early to make budget predictions on revenues from those stores and other pot businesses in the city. Azad has penciled in $275,000 in marijuana revenue next year, but that is largely a guess.

Pueblo voters have twice rejected adding a special sales tax to recreational marijuana sales, although voters agreed several years ago to a 5.4 percent tax on medical marijuana sales.

Council only agreed to license recreational stores after the 2016 general election, in which city voters reaffirmed their support for legalized marijuana and more narrowly endorsed opening stores in the city.

Even critics of recreational pot, such as Councilman Chris Nicoll, acknowledged that city voters made their desires known.

proper@chieftain.com