Churches and Large Scale Marijuana Growers Both Losers In Everett Pot Vote

It’s hard to say if anyone was happy after last night’s Everett City Council meeting and vote on permanent recreational marijuana laws. It was a long public hearing with 29 people testifying on what they think of marijuana in Everett. After that hearing, the city council then debated amongst each other and came up with the following decisions.

Only Tier 1 marijuana processing and production facilities will be allowed in Everett. They are limited to 2000 square feet. Tier 2 (10,000 square feet) and Tier 3 (30,000 square feet) are prohibited in Everett. Tier 1 processors and producers must be at least 1000 feet from residential areas and can’t be within 1000 feet of each other. Marijuana production and processing will not be allowed in the waterfront area.

The council denied a special rezone for Globodyne’s proposed retail marijuana store located just south of the Holiday Inn on Pine Street. The store received a license from the State of Washington to operate but just before opening the owner found out he was in the Everett Station Zone that was not included in the allowable areas. The council decided that the future of the area would not lend itself to retail marijuana.

Many at the public hearing were from churches in Everett who opposed recreational marijuana on several levels but almost all spoke of protecting children. They asked the council for an amendment that would prohibit recreational marijuana production, processing or retailing within 1000 feet of any church, synagogue, mosque or temple. The city council voted 4 – 2 to deny that request. That likely leaves the door open for Mary Jane’s Pot Shop to open in the 9500 block of 19th Ave SE in the Eastmont neighborhood of south Everett.

The city council is also asking the planning commission to look at further regulations for Tier 1 processors to make sure that there aren’t any issues with odors from growing or processing operations.

Both the mayor and many council members expressed publicly that these were some of the hardest deliberations that they’ve been through in their time dealing with city issues as they balanced the will of the voters with the wants of people on both sides of the recreational marijuana debate.