The Airway Heights City Council approved ordinance C-834, which establishes the city’s standards for recreational and medical marijuana facilities within city limits at the Aug. 4 meeting.
Under the ordinance, retail facilities can be located in general commercial (C-2) zones. Retail, process and production facilities would be permitted in light (I-1) and heavy industrial (I-2) zones.
Vendors who operate recreational marijuana facilities will have to apply for a marijuana license through the state and are required to pay the city’s sales tax.
Development Services director Derrick Braaten explained that Airway Heights’ I-502 standards for recreational cannabis closely mirror the city of Spokane’s, except that retail cannabis stores within city limits cannot have a storefront on Highway 2. However, they can locate in a secondary lot or have their store at a 90-degree angle.
Braaten said the city has received four applications for processing facilities — two of which already have permits while the other two are still in the permit processing stage.
In regards to medical cannabis, the city will have their own regulations as the state does not have any in place.
According to Braaten, facilities that grow, process or sell medical marijuana must obtain a business license and a special dispensary permit through the city. Braaten added there are no current applications to put in a medical cannabis facility in Airway Heights.
All facilities must be outside the state-required 1,000-foot buffer zone surrounding sensitive uses such as schools, parks, childcare centers and other such facilities frequented by children. Medical cannabis facilities cannot be within 1,000 feet of recreational marijuana facilities. Braaten explained that the state tracks all strains of recreational marijuana, but not medical cannabis.
“The state Liquor and Control board is concerned about recreational stores that claim to be medical,” Braaten said. “It’s not a local issue, but it’s statewide.”
During the July Planning Commission meeting, chair Rita Osborne asked if marijuana facilities could operate on tribal land. Braaten explained that recreational facilities could be located on tribal land, but because cannabis is illegal under federal law and because the tribe operates under federal law, “it could negatively affect the federal funding they receive.”
Under the ordinance, signage for retail marijuana facilities cannot display visual representations of pot leaves or drug paraphernalia.
Braaten said there is not a lot of resistance from the community on the matter of marijuana.
“Since the state has legalized it, we basically viewed it like a winery or whiskey production,” Braaten said. “It is what is.”
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)