Hearing on pot-business moratorium becomes a ‘no’ to Muckleshoot Hill location

City hearing on pot-business moratorium turns into thumbs down on one potential store

It was supposed to be about the one-year moratorium the Auburn City Council slapped Jan. 4 on all retail businesses that sell marijuana or use it as an ingredient in their products.

City leaders hoped to glean what residents thought about the moratorium and to give themselves a sense of where the community is with respect to the greater issues involved.

But in a council chamber packed with more than 80 alarmed Auburn residents Tuesday evening, the hearing turned into a referendum of sorts on one particular shop that had not yet opened, Green Solutions Place at 2801 Auburn Way S., at the entrance to the Forest Ridge subdivision on Muckleshoot Hill.

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Most of the speakers, evincing no animus for marijuana, they said, nevertheless denounced that particular location for the store, insisting instead that the proper locale would be an industrial area or commercial development, not a residential area full of children and senior citizens.

“We are just sick about the prospect of marijuana sales there,” said Justine Linder, who has lived with her husband and family for 41 years in the “quiet, contained area,” which offers Rotary Park, a playground, townhouses and a bus stop at for school-bound children.

Theresa Cancil and her family recently moved to 25th Street Southeast in Forest Ridge.

“When we moved there, we knew there was a casino, we knew there was a pawnshop, but it was affordable and a very nice community. … However, if there was a pot shop on the corner, we would not have bought there,” Cancil said.

“… If you were to come to my home,” Cancil continued, “I would say, ‘Come up Auburn Way and turn right at the pot shop.’ That’s not attractive, that’s embarrassing … It’s right at the entrance to our community; you have no other choice but to go past this.”

The neighborhood, Cancil concluded, has had its problems for yearsand it certainly doesn’t need the kinds of problems a marijuana shop would bring in its train.

“One of the things I’ve noticed tonight is that the only people who seem to be in favor live out of town,” said 25th Street Southeast resident Dennis DiFrancesco, drawing the most raucous applause of the evening. “They have their own agendas, just like we do, regarding the location issues. My suggestion to the council would be maybe keep the moratorium until you have a neighborhood full of people like we have tonight come before you and say, ‘Would you please place a marijuana joint — no pun intended — in our neighborhood?”

In November of 2012, Washington voters approved Initiative 502, legalizing the possession of specified quantities of marijuana. It also authorized the processing, production and retail sale of recreational marijuana, as distinct from medical marijuana, which falls under a separate set of state regulations.

On Sept. 2, 2014, the City Council approved an ordinance establishing city processes and protocols for sales, processing and production of marijuana in the city. While the City does not issue business licenses for retail marijuana stores, said Kevin Snyder, director of community development and public works for the City of Auburn, it will issue building permits to ensure that each business meets all local and state requirements.

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) at first allowed only two retail stores in Auburn. As of Tuesday, the City had only one open: The Stash Box at 3108 A St. SE. Two other locations in at present for building permits are The Evergreen Market at 402 16th St. NE., and Green Solutions Place.

License applications for 17 other potential locations in Auburn are pending before the WSLCB. The City Attorney’s Office is evaluating the applicability and effect of the City’s moratorium to the two pending applications.

Following up on actions of state lawmakers in 2015, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board told cities it would raise the number of retail marijuana businesses allowable in jurisdictions.

Specific to Auburn, that meant more than two.

To buy itself time to study what that would mean here, the City Council on Jan. 4 set the one-year moratorium on additional marijuana-related businesses and uses. The resolution described not only a work plan, which the City could extend, change or terminate in that interval, but also set the public hearing.

The letter that advised cities of the recent change said also that they might need to impose moratoria should they wish to take steps to control the number of retail marijuana businesses.

Oddly, the Liquor and Cannabis Board has since informed the City it will not recognize moratoria. Whether the board directed this specifically at the City of Auburn or, more generally, to other cities in the state, is unknown.