International Church of Cannabis continues battle with city of Denver over sculpture
City claims sculpture poses hazard; church views it as a symbol of 'religious freedom'
The back-and-forth battle to keep a symbolic piece of artwork up at a Denver house of worship continues.
Last week, we told you about a sculpture in front of the International Church of Cannabis that was stirring up controversy in the Washington Park neighborhood.
The city told Steve Berke, the church's founder, the bright pink sculpture in front of the church at 400 South Logan is unsafe and poses a hazard to drivers. The sculpture was installed about four months ago.
Berk said the city told him that he had two weeks to apply for a permit. But now he said the city's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is telling him the artwork has to go.
Denver7 spoke to a tourist, Jason Pollock, who stopped to admire it on Sunday afternoon.
“I think it’s a beautiful piece of art,” Pollock said.
The very unique house of worship has become a big tourist hotspot since it opened in 2017. It's not your typical church. The congregation uses cannabis as a sacrament.
"We named our religion 'Elevationism' because we believe that people should try and elevate themselves to a better version of self," Berke said.
He said the sculpture has great meaning for his congregation and claimed the city was going to bulldoze the art piece if it wasn't removed.
But in a statement, DOTI disputes these claims:
"The idea of us bulldozing in two weeks is ridiculous and would not align with any established practices," the statement read.
The department also claims that Berke may be confused about the two-week window for a permit.
"The instruction the church received was to reach out to our permitting team within two weeks - not to “get” the permit in two weeks," the DOTI statement read.
A few days after the Denver7 story aired, Berke said he got another email from DOTI, that said in part:
"Although we cannot prevent any application for Encroachment Permit to the City, we have taken the time to review photo and inspector notes from the field, and have reasonably determined that the sculpture as installed does not meet minimum placement, height, and vehicle sight line criteria of the Encroachment Rules & Regulations. Even if you desire to skip recommended Steps 1-3 above, it is anticipated that a formal Encroachment Permit application for the existing sculpture as installed will be denied therefore the existing installation is not permittable in its current location. Our recommended Steps above will prevent wasting your time and fee payment awaiting initial results of the permit review, when it is already known as not a permittable location," the DOTI email read.
"So you can apply for the permit. But we've already predetermined that we're going to reject it," Berke said. "So "It's already determined that this sculpture can't be here."
Berke said he doesn't agree and doesn't understand why it has already been determined the application would be denied.
"Whether you’re going here on Dakota Street or coming from Logan Street, the cars on Logan street are more of an encroachment than the sculpture," Berke said.
We asked people in the area what they thought.
Pollock said he did not believe the sculpture was a hazard.
"Not at all," he said. "I think it's beautiful."
Scott Donahoe, who is an engineer working on drainage in the area said he also believed it wasn't impacting anything.
"I think the parked cars are more in the way than the sculpture," Donahoe said. "I don’t see it being an issue."
Berke said he's prepared to put up a fight against the city's demands.
“Art is art. There are no parameters on the size of art this is not just art to us. It’s a religious symbol, and here to establish our right to have religious liberty and freedom," he said. "This is a holy sculpture, according to Elevationists. They view this as a symbol of religious freedom and it should stay."
