A Denver District Court judge has dealt Starbuds a setback in its fight against the city’s first-ever denial of a routine cultivation license renewal.

In late June, the city’s top licensing official sided with neighbors in Elyria-Swansea who argued that the marijuana chain’s small recreational marijuana grow operation — located above its original dispensary at 4690 Brighton Blvd. — was a detriment to the working-class area’s quality of life and hindered its prospects for improvement.

Starbuds is challenging that decision in court, in part based on disagreement with Department of Excise and Licenses executive director Stacie Loucks over zoning rules. Starbuds contends that under the city’s retail marijuana code, its renewal should not have been subject to an administrative hearing that allowed for community protest.

Last week, Judge Ross B.H. Buchanan denied Starbuds’ request for a preliminary injunction, which would allow it to continue growing and processing marijuana plants at the site while the case was underway.

He instead gave its owners 30 more...