On Tuesday, Jan. 21, the Nederland Board of Trustees voted 6-1 to enact a moratorium on natural medicine healing centers — places where people can use two forms of psychedelic mushrooms for treatment under the supervision of a licensed practitioner — within town limits until Dec. 31.
That will give town staff time to come up with zoning and land use regulations for such businesses as part of Nederland’s larger comprehensive plan update.
To date, no one has expressed interest in opening a licensed healing center in Nederland, Town Administrator Jon Cain said.
Tania Corvalan was the sole dissenting vote to the moratorium, questioning why the town needed new zoning regulations for what are essentially "doctor's offices."
"I’m not sure why this is such a difficult thing to talk about that it needs a moratorium," Corvalan said. "This is not like a dispensary, it’s like a therapist office. I’m not sure why we couldn’t have had a discussion prior to this and just looked at the use tables and decide where a doctor's office can go."
The moratorium can be ended early if the town passes regulations prior to Dec. 31. The Planning Commission will take up that process and could have rules by the summer, staff said.
"Our conversation on the planning commission were not being against this at all," said town board member Nichole Sterling. "There was support for this idea. We just want to be thoughtful about how we go about it."
During their discussion, town officials took great care to explain that the moratorium would not impact residents' legal right to grow and consume psilocybin and psilocin, both decriminalized under the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, for personal use.
Also on Jan. 21, the board received an update on the Colorado CarShare Program, which will end in Nederland this month due to low usage and the cost to continue a pilot program. A CarShare electric vehicle was used just six times in November and December 2024, according to notes shared with trustees, for a total of 328 miles.
The vehicle will be removed from town by the end of the month, according to town staff.