Pubdate: Thu, 26 Dec 2013
Source: Herald, The (Everett, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190
Author: Jerry Cornfield

LICENSE TO GROW, SELL POT WILL COME WITH SCRUTINY

Mom and pop pot dealers should prepare for the bright light of public 
scrutiny as they enter the marijuana mainstream.

There will be no hiding as the state lets cities and counties know 
who wants to grow, process and open a cannabis corner market in their 
communities and where exactly they want to do it.

Soon these wannabe legal dope dealers will be the talk of many a town 
and maybe the target of a few not-so-mellow neighbors, who don't want 
the businesses near their homes.

The state Liquor Control Board has received more than 3,700 license 
applications and has begun informing cities and counties which ones 
are on their turf. For each application, cities and counties have 20 
days to express support, opposition or no position.

"If the local authority objects, we review with an additional layer 
of scrutiny," liquor board spokesman Brian Smith said. "Typically, we 
are looking for whether the local authority made a case that 
providing a license to the applicant, or at that location, is a 
threat to public safety. The burden is on the local authority to make 
its case."

State law does not tell elected leaders what to do before responding. 
It does not, for example, require public hearings but it doesn't 
dissuade them, either. That's where the city of Lynnwood may be 
blazing a trail for others.

Late last month, the mayor's office received word from the state of 
an application for a license to grow and process marijuana on a stamp 
of commercial land on 208th Street SW abutting homes and the Interurban Trail.

City leaders sprang into action and scheduled a community meeting to 
discuss and dissect this application.

They mailed notices to residents living in the vicinity with the 
date, time, place and reason for the meeting. They attached the 
liquor board's official letter containing names, phone numbers and 
birth dates of the applicants. They posted it all online as well.

City leaders no doubt wanted to be certain residents knew exactly who 
had designs on growing pot on this particular corner.

Not surprisingly, this didn't sit well with Mark Greenshields of 
Auricag Inc., who applied for the license for a 30,000 square-foot 
indoor growing operation. Greenshields said he understood the purpose 
of the meeting but worried the spread of personal information could 
create professional and personal problems for he and his partners.

He had another reason for his frustration - by the time the notices 
went out, he'd already abandoned plans to open in Lynnwood and is 
looking to operate in unincorporated Snohomish County near Woodinville.

That made the need for a meeting moot in his mind, but Assistant City 
Administrator Art Ceniza insisted early Monday it would not be 
canceled. ( Tuesday morning it was canceled, with no reason given.)

Departing Councilwoman Kerri Lonergan-Dreke supported getting 
residents together regardless of the status of the application 
because legal pot businesses are coming to town and most residents 
don't seem to realize it.

The city needs to be proactive, she said. She hopes public sessions 
are held on every application, even the ones that don't materialize, she said.

"I think that's a good strategy to take," she said. "It's good for 
folks to start to understand how the state has responded to the initiative."

And a reminder for those looking to grow and sell pot in this state: 
Public attention, unwanted or not, is one of the costs of doing business.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom