A Denver business that hoped to open the nation’s first legal marijuana spa has come up short — by about 20 feet.

The city’s licensing director Wednesday denied a license application filed by Utopia All Natural Wellness Spa and Lounge to allow marijuana consumption in an old Capitol Hill mansion, citing its location 980 feet from a child-care center. City regulations for the voter-approved social marijuana use ordinance require businesses that seek consumption-area licenses to be at least 1,000 feet from day cares.

Had it been approved, Utopia would have received the second license issued under Initiative 300, which was passed by 54 percent of Denver voters in 2016.

Utopia founder and CEO Cindy Sovine had appealed to Denver licensing officials for leniency and submitted a letter from the child-care center supporting a waiver of the proximity restriction, but the city’s decision says it lacks that authority.

“I have almost a year and a half invested into this property, from the time I first started thinking about it and working on it,” Sovine said. “I’m definitely not ready to let it go.” [Read more at The Denver Post]