Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Long Beach, Wash. - Call it the greening of the Washington coast. Freedom Market, a new retail pot shop just opened in Ilwaco Oct. 1, and the town already hosts one licensed grower - Vancouver Weed Co. Seaview will see its first retail weed business, Mr. Doobies, open in November.
Long Beach, by contrast, remains barren of bud.
The owner of the new Seaview store, H.J. Norris, said he would have preferred to open in Long Beach, but couldn't find a suitable location, partially because he was hindered by the city's strict buffer ordinances.
A little easier
Things may have just gotten a little easier for Norris and others like him who dream of locating a pot businesses in Long Beach, now that city council has voted to relax its stringent buffer policies, a move likely to pave the way for prospective marijuana shops, processors or producers.
"Even though we allowed them, it was really tough to find any place to put one," Long Beach Mayor Jerry Phillips said.
On Monday, the City Council voted to relax the stringent citing guidelines, by several hundred feet in some cases, to now fall in line with the minimum restrictions required by state law. The ordinance relaxes buffers in all cases, except near schools and playgrounds, to the 100-foot minimum required by the state.
State law also restricts Pacific County to three allotments for retail marijuana businesses, which are all currently in use elsewhere. But no such equivalent restriction exists for producers and processors, including medical cooperatives, sometimes called "collective gardens," so changes to local laws may entice more non-retail marijuana businesses, along with the taxes they provide, to find a home within the Long Beach business community. Nevertheless, the pot businesses may still find it difficult to access acceptable locations in Long Beach, and any tax kick-backs from the industry will likely be modest.
State buffer guidelines had required that all marijuana businesses be located at least 1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, recreational centers, child care centers, public parks, public transit centers, libraries and arcades. But changes to the state laws, enacted last year, gave municipalities the option to reduce 1,000 foot buffers to as little as 100 feet, for everything except schools.
Before the recent amendment, Long Beach municipal code further extended the 1,000-foot buffer to include amusement parks, churches, residential treatment facilities, youth-oriented facilities and juvenile group homes. Long Beach also required marijuana businesses be located a minimum of 200 feet from any nearby residential property. Those restrictions had made setting up shop in Long Beach difficult.
Local municipalities retain a high degree of control over the regulation of marijuana-related business and some cities and have banned the dispensaries and retailers altogether, while others have reduced buffers to make it easier on potential shop owners.
Retail site still unlikely
Currently there are no retail pot businesses, legal pot producers or processors operating in Long Beach, and with all three retail allotments for Pacific County now in use elsewhere in the county, it may be some time before the option is available.
"We don't currently have any (retail establishments) outstanding as the code doesn't really allow for any right now. The code is very restrictive and the retail allotment for Pacific County is met." said Community Development Director Ariel Smith, before the new ordinance was passed.
Now, the relaxed buffers approved in the city's updated ordinance will certainly make it easier for producers and processors to set up, though any marijuana business in Long Beach will still need city-issued permits, in addition to state permits from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.
"This would make it a little easier but not that much easier," City Administrator David Glasson said after the vote.
Glasson remained ambivalent. "It's probably not worth the effort to have (pot businesses)."
Licensed marijuana retail facilities in Washington state have sold over $1 billion in marijuana flowers and cannabis-infused products since regulators first began permitting such sales just over two years ago. Those sales have yielded $275 million in tax revenue. Taxes collected from retailers, producers and processors in Pacific County totaled $1.6 million over that same two-year period.
City Councilor Del Murry was the only member of the council to vote against the ordinance to relax the buffers. He said after the vote that he did not think marijuana businesses in Long Beach were a good fit, nor would they send the right message to local youth.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Long Beach Council Votes To Relax Pot Buffers
Author: David Plechl
Contact: (503) 325-3211
Photo Credit: LSJ
Website: The Daily Astorian
Long Beach, by contrast, remains barren of bud.
The owner of the new Seaview store, H.J. Norris, said he would have preferred to open in Long Beach, but couldn't find a suitable location, partially because he was hindered by the city's strict buffer ordinances.
A little easier
Things may have just gotten a little easier for Norris and others like him who dream of locating a pot businesses in Long Beach, now that city council has voted to relax its stringent buffer policies, a move likely to pave the way for prospective marijuana shops, processors or producers.
"Even though we allowed them, it was really tough to find any place to put one," Long Beach Mayor Jerry Phillips said.
On Monday, the City Council voted to relax the stringent citing guidelines, by several hundred feet in some cases, to now fall in line with the minimum restrictions required by state law. The ordinance relaxes buffers in all cases, except near schools and playgrounds, to the 100-foot minimum required by the state.
State law also restricts Pacific County to three allotments for retail marijuana businesses, which are all currently in use elsewhere. But no such equivalent restriction exists for producers and processors, including medical cooperatives, sometimes called "collective gardens," so changes to local laws may entice more non-retail marijuana businesses, along with the taxes they provide, to find a home within the Long Beach business community. Nevertheless, the pot businesses may still find it difficult to access acceptable locations in Long Beach, and any tax kick-backs from the industry will likely be modest.
State buffer guidelines had required that all marijuana businesses be located at least 1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, recreational centers, child care centers, public parks, public transit centers, libraries and arcades. But changes to the state laws, enacted last year, gave municipalities the option to reduce 1,000 foot buffers to as little as 100 feet, for everything except schools.
Before the recent amendment, Long Beach municipal code further extended the 1,000-foot buffer to include amusement parks, churches, residential treatment facilities, youth-oriented facilities and juvenile group homes. Long Beach also required marijuana businesses be located a minimum of 200 feet from any nearby residential property. Those restrictions had made setting up shop in Long Beach difficult.
Local municipalities retain a high degree of control over the regulation of marijuana-related business and some cities and have banned the dispensaries and retailers altogether, while others have reduced buffers to make it easier on potential shop owners.
Retail site still unlikely
Currently there are no retail pot businesses, legal pot producers or processors operating in Long Beach, and with all three retail allotments for Pacific County now in use elsewhere in the county, it may be some time before the option is available.
"We don't currently have any (retail establishments) outstanding as the code doesn't really allow for any right now. The code is very restrictive and the retail allotment for Pacific County is met." said Community Development Director Ariel Smith, before the new ordinance was passed.
Now, the relaxed buffers approved in the city's updated ordinance will certainly make it easier for producers and processors to set up, though any marijuana business in Long Beach will still need city-issued permits, in addition to state permits from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.
"This would make it a little easier but not that much easier," City Administrator David Glasson said after the vote.
Glasson remained ambivalent. "It's probably not worth the effort to have (pot businesses)."
Licensed marijuana retail facilities in Washington state have sold over $1 billion in marijuana flowers and cannabis-infused products since regulators first began permitting such sales just over two years ago. Those sales have yielded $275 million in tax revenue. Taxes collected from retailers, producers and processors in Pacific County totaled $1.6 million over that same two-year period.
City Councilor Del Murry was the only member of the council to vote against the ordinance to relax the buffers. He said after the vote that he did not think marijuana businesses in Long Beach were a good fit, nor would they send the right message to local youth.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Long Beach Council Votes To Relax Pot Buffers
Author: David Plechl
Contact: (503) 325-3211
Photo Credit: LSJ
Website: The Daily Astorian
