It took seven months for Eric Gaston, Arnie Nelson and Jeff Anderson to find the spot, slog through the paperwork and acquire the necessary permits and licenses, but Auburn’s second recreational marijuana business, The Evergreen Market, opened shop Tuesday at 402 16th St. NE.

At 9 a.m. with critical help from the Auburn City Council.

Here’s what happened.

In 2014, the three applied for a license under the lottery system the state of Washington had created in the wake of voters’ passage of I-502 in November 2012. Auburn got two stores: The Stashbox, which opened in November 2014 at 3108 A St. SE; and The Evergreen Market.

In September 2015, however, state lawmakers passed a new law, SB-5052. Its intent was to fold medical marijuana stores into retail outlets. To qualify for and to get priority to open a retail OVERSET FOLLOWS:store, applicants under SB-5052 must have previously owned a collective garden or been denied a license under I-502.

Under SB-5052, Auburn got two more stores, but the state left it up to cities to decide whether they would allow them. On Jan. 4, the City of Auburn enacted a one-year moratorium, declaring that no new pot stores could apply for licenses, permits, etc., until the City decided whether more were needed.

Because The Evergreen Market had not yet opened, it fell under the moratorium’s definition of a new SB-5052 store, even though its owners had been dealing with the City for years.

So on Monday, the City Council fixed the moratorium’s language to allow the original two stores allotted it under I-502 to open and make the moratorium apply only to new medical stores under SB-5052.