EVERETT, Wash. — Wednesday night the city of Everett may vote to ban all new marijuana retail stores, even though the state says there can be five more. The state issued five new licenses at the end of last year but a City Council member has proposed an emergency ordinance to stop them for at least a year.
The city of Everett is home to four recreational marijuana shops and a fifth is in the works. Councilmember Scott Bader says that’s enough.
“I wanted to make sure we knew what the effects of these stores on the neighborhood were,” Bader told us by phone.
The city doesn't have that information and needs a year to collect it as well as look at logistics. Everett requires a 2,500 foot buffer between stores, and the state requires a 1,000 foot buffer from schools, parks and day cares, so there aren't a lot of location options for new businesses.
The city knows some residents are unhappy with the current locations. Everett’s Purple Haze is right next to residential houses. Last spring the store failed a compliance check by selling to minors and at least one family, worried about safety, decided to move.
"It aggravates me that they're letting stuff like that happen,” Candace Duce, who found another rental home after Purple Haze opened, explained to us then.
Last fall, just outside city limits, a medicinal marijuana store was ransacked by violent robbers, an employee held at gunpoint. But Everett police haven't collected any data about crime rates at pot shops; Bader says he'd like to take a year to do that too.
The councilmember told us another concern is most of the other cities surrounding Everett don't allow marijuana retailers, so he doesn't want Everett to become Snohomish County's destination for recreational pot.
The city will hold a public hearing before the vote Wednesday night.