Nearly 15 years of frustration for cannabis entrepreneur Autumn Todd came to an end on Tuesday, after Loveland voters finally gave their approval to marijuana dispensaries in the city.

As of Wednesday afternoon, ballot questions 2F and 2H were comfortably ahead with 66.1% and 60.1% of the vote, respectively, ending Loveland’s long streak of rejecting marijuana.

“It’s been 15 years of lost revenues, and I’ve spent hundreds of thousands on petitions and getting out the vote,” he said on Wednesday morning. “But now we’re just moving forward.”

Issue 2H asked voters to allow a limited number of medical and retail marijuana businesses to operate in Loveland, but only if they also approved issue 2F imposing a 5% excise tax on retail cannabis sales. According to the city’s finance office, this could generate up to $1.8 million in annual revenue for the city’s general fund.

Todd was among the business owners who were forced to close in 2010 after Loveland voters banned medical marijuana dispensaries, even though there were several shops already operating in the city. Then, in 2013, Loveland City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting recreational cannabis after it was legalized by Colorado voters in 2012.

In the years since, a few citizens initiatives have sought to put the question back in front of voters, but didn’t make it past the petition stage. A council-led initiative in 2019 was also rejected by voters.

Todd and his partner Tom Wilczynski, another business owner forced to close in 2010, were behind another initiative in 2020 that collected enough signatures, but a dispute over their validity prompted a lawsuit that was eventually dismissed without a hearing. But the ever persistent Todd was back in 2024 and, this time, his petition drive was successful. But Loveland City Council decided to move ahead with its own initiative, to have more control over the excise tax question.

Now that the measures have passed, that’s all water under the bridge for Todd, who is looking ahead to working with the city on reestablishing his businesses.

“The regulations shouldn’t take that long, because it’s really mostly a cut and paste,” Todd said. “The authority has to come in and do their checks, but it’s nothing major.”

Todd is hopeful that he will be up and running again in the summer of 2025, but Brett Stewart from the Loveland City Manager’s office isn’t so sure about that timing. According to Stewart, the next step is to convene an internal city working group that will start preparing the regulatory ground work.

“We will likely be getting on City Council’s calendar for a study session in the near future once we are ready to present options and explain what we are planning in terms of steps,” Brett stated in an email interview. “We will also need to ensure there is some stakeholder/community feedback session to ensure members of the community have the opportunity to provide input.”

At a City Council study session on the issue in July, Stewart estimated it would take nine to 12 months to complete the regulations and start issuing licenses. Once the dispensaries are up and running, the city’s finance office has projected that the 5% excise tax on sales will generate up to $1.8 million in annual revenue for the city.