At its June 10 meeting, the Airway Heights Planning Commission held a workshop to address the recent emergency moratorium on medical marijuana passed by the City Council.
Council passed the moratorium at its May 26 study session in response to Gov. Jay Inslee signing the “Cannabis Patient Protection Act,” a state bill that creates regulation for medical cannabis.
Development Services Director Derrick Braaten explained that the city had its own regulations on medical marijuana because the state had no guidelines for it at the time.
“We had regulations and when the bill came out, but there were glaring conflicts if a medical marijuana facility wanted to go in, hence the reason for the moratorium,” Braaten said.
Braaten added that the bill would eventually phase out collective gardens and bring in cooperatives. It also allows recreational marijuana stores to apply for medical marijuana licenses and “possibly bring in certified staff.”
The new bill does not affect the city’s current Initiative 502 standards regarding recreational cannabis
Under the new bill, growers can sign onto a voluntary medical marijuana authorization database that allows them to grow up to 15 plants per housing unit. If they are part of a collective garden with other growers, they can produce up to 15 plants per person and 45 total.
Growers who are not registered can grow up to four plants. Registering with the database also provides growers with arrest protection.
“If the police show up, the fact that you are a registered patient they can’t confiscate your materials,” Braaten said. “If you’re not registered, police can seize your property, you can present a prescription and probably be found not guilty.”
Under the bill, the growers’ plants must be within a domicile — a living space.
“Under the new regulation, a member of the cooperative must live in the domicile,” Braaten said.
Braaten presented the commission with a rough draft of the new code where one of the guidelines is that cooperatives cannot be located within a duplex or an apartment complex.
“The draft of the ordinance originally proposes a minimum of 6,000 feet,” Braaten said. “We’ll have to address it and minimize it to where a cooperative can only be located within a single-family unit. We can be more restrictive but not more permissive.”
Commissioner Matt Pederson asked if it was in the city’s purview to expand the distance where a cannabis facility cannot be located within a 1,000-foot radius of another cannabis facility.
Braaten explained the city could potentially do that, as well as ban it as per the attorney general’s opinion.
The commission expressed some concerns regarding the bill, particularly with the criminal element, and asked Braaten for more time to conduct research and gather input from residents before they have a public hearing.
“The question is not is this activity correct but where does it fit into the city from a zoning perspective based off laws, rules and ordinances?” Pederson said.
The Planning Commission will have another workshop in July and the public hearing in August.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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