Out With the Old, In With the New

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]W[/dropcap]ith passage of Senate Bill 5052, the old medical cannabis collective garden model will be over and done with by July 1, 2016 in Washington State. This means that all of the collective garden “access points,” aka dispensaries, will be shuttered by this coming summer if not sooner. SB-5052 ensures that Washington’s medical cannabis system becomes one with its I-502 recreational cannabis system.

To accommodate the transition into what will be essentially a combined recreational-medical cannabis system, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board re-opened the retail license application process and lifted the statewide retail license cap, and it is trying to license as quickly as possible those MMJ access points with Priority 1 licensure status under the new state laws and regulations.

This year, the Washington State legislature also passed House Bill 2136, an I-502 “technical fix bill.” Among other things, HB-2136 allows cities and counties to reduce the 1,000-foot buffer rule to as low as a 100-foot buffer from state-mandated sensitive uses, with the sole exception of schools and playgrounds.

Most cities have not taken advantage of the buffer reduction option. However, the city of Seattle is working on changing its land use rules through its “Marijuana Amendments Ordinance” so as to allow for more cannabis retail storefronts in the city. This makes sense, since Seattle still has over 100 operating MMJ access points and delivery services and if at least some of those cannabis businesses are not accommodated, they will disappear.

According to the Seattle Mayor’s office, the new land use rules “would . . . allow the siting of state-licensed stores more equitably and fairly throughout Seattle while also limiting the possibility of clustering retail stores on a single city block.” The new ordinance provides as follows:

[T]he 1,000-foot restriction from playgrounds and schools would remain in effect while restrictions for all other public amenities would be reduced to 500 feet (approximately 1-2 city blocks). The new rule would establish an additional 1,650 acres for retail locations to be sited in Seattle.

In addition, retailers must locate at least 500 feet from each other. The ordinance also creates odor standards for producers and processors engaged in “Major Marijuana Activity” which entails the city working with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to determine for each producer and processor what steps need to be taken to reduce odor emission and pollutants. The ordinance defines “Major Marijuana Activity” to encompass all selling, producing and processing of cannabis, which is a change from Seattle’s old cannabis laws that based the definition on plant count and ounce limitations as set forth in RCW 69.51A.085.

Regarding zones in which cannabis businesses can locate, the proposed ordinance keeps pace with Seattle’s old cannabis zoning ordinance in that major cannabis activity is still prohibited in the following zones:

Single-family zones

Multifamily zones

Neighborhood Commercial 1 (NC1) zones

Pioneer Square Mixed (PSM)

International District Mixed (IDM)

International District Residential (IDR)

Downtown Harborfront 1 (DH1)

Downtown Harborfront 2 (DH2)

Pike Market Mixed (PMM)

Ballard Avenue Landmark District

Columbia City Landmark District

Fort Lawton Landmark District

Harvard-Belmont Landmark District

International Special Review District

Pike Place Market Historical District

Pioneer Square Preservation District

Sand Point Overlay District

Stadium Transition Area Overlay District

Should the city of Seattle pass this new ordinance (and we believe that it will), the race will be on for potential retailers to find viable property within relatively limited zoning that meets even the new 500 foot buffer requirements. This already has some industry stakeholders in a fit either because their existing spaces will not qualify even under the new, more liberal buffer rules, or simply because finding space in this city has become impossibly difficult and expensive.

In addition, none of this means that Seattle landlords are ready and willing to lease their spaces to cannabis businesses. So, though the reduction of state buffers is undoubtedly positive to provide greater access to cannabis, it’s way easier said than done when it comes to actualization, particularly in the Emerald City.