Numerous Regulations Make Life Difficult for the State’s Aspiring Marijuana Merchants

Summary: Those hoping to set up a marijuana retail shop in Pullman or elsewhere in the state are forced to satisfy a large number of bureaucratic regulations, ranging from heavy security requirements to occupancy permits.

Outline:

I) Introduction

·         Bureaucratic regulations

II) Security and Fire Requirements

·         Liquor Control Board

·         MJ’s Pot Shop

·         Security Details

·         Fire Inspection

III) Change of Occupancy Permit

·         Definition

·         Lack of Precedent

IV) Zoning Issues

·         Commercial Three Zone

·         Difficulties for MJ’s Pot Shop

·         City’s Rebuttal

·         Future Stores

Sources:

Rich Dragoo: (509) 338-3274

Pete Dickinson: (509) 338-3213

Mary Jane Smith: (509)332-5203

Marijuana may be legal in Washington, but it can be quite difficult to sell.

As new marijuana production, processing and retail businesses attempt to set up shop across the state and in Pullman, the aspiring entrepreneurs behind these operations must comply with a wide array of bureaucratic regulations before they can start to profit off of the plant. Some of these regulations are standard for any new business; however, some are not.

The Liquor Control Board – the agency in charge of recreational marijuana implementation – has laid out an expansive list of security requirements that all retail stores must abide by.

For the only retail marijuana outlet in Pullman, fulfilling those requirements came with a price.

“You just pay a lot of money to have a specialist do it,” said Mary Jane Smith, the owner of MJ’s Pot Shop. “You have to have everything ready to go. You put a lot of money out before you can get a license.”

The risk associated with spending a significant amount of money without a guarantee of receiving a license is enough to dissuade a lot of people, Smith said.

Some of the security requirements include identification badges, alarm systems, video surveillance and a traceability system that tracks all marijuana from “seed to sale.”

Like other businesses, all Pullman marijuana retail shops must pass a fire inspection before opening. According to Rich Dragoo, Pullman’s fire prevention officer, establishing fire code for these new businesses has not presented any issues locally.

The retail outlets also have to fill out a “change of occupancy” permit, Pullman planning director Pete Dickinson said. A change of occupancy permit is required any time one type of business is planning to operate in a building previously used for a different purpose. Since there have not been any precedents for marijuana shops, all potential Pullman outlets will need to get a change of occupancy permit.

“We require the businesses owners to hire an architect to show what they intend to do with that building space,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson said another issue facing marijuana shops is that many landlords are not interested in leasing space to the stores due to the drug’s illegal status federally.

Beyond MJ’s Pot Shop, two other retail outlets are zoned for Pullman. According to Dickinson, all potential marijuana shops are restricted to Pullman’s Commercial Three Zone, covering parts of Grand Avenue and Bishop Boulevard. The zone is the only area of Pullman that satisfies all of the state’s spatial restrictions on pot shops, which require minimum distances from different places where minors congregate.

Finding an acceptable spot for a store was one of the most difficult parts of the process, Smith said.

Smith found the Liquor Control Board easy to work with and receptive to her questions, but did not feel the same about local government.

“The city building and engineering department were not the nicest people to work with,” Smith said.  “It seems like the city of Pullman makes up rules as they go.”

Dickinson had a different opinion, noting that Pullman’s six month moratorium on marijuana businesses allowed the city time to adequately prepare for the new state industry.

Because of the limited space available to them, the next two marijuana shops might share a facility, Dickinson said. They would be located at 1340 SE Bishop Blvd, where the current Tanfastic building is. MJ’s Pot shop is across the street.    

  

The air was salted with the heavy scents of sweat, chemical and fish. Bright yellow waterproof suits milled to their required positions. Freshly-murdered salmon proceeded slowly through the belt system, headless and bloody.

Clad in a contrasting orange rain suit, I maneuvered through the darkened maze of machinery. I was ready. Ready to dominate, ready to succeed, ready to clean. Hard-wired from a foamy blend of swiss miss and coffee and manic from a week and half straight of getting three hours of sleep a night, I trotted to the damp floor feeling like a high school football player plunging out of a tunnel. 

Turning the corner, I approached one of the fish house walls. The instrument of my sanitation capabilities -- an overused squeegee -- hung on pegs against the dark stone. As I reached for it a voice pierced through my ear-bud protected ears.

“Someone left the top off the head grinder.”

Robert McKenna, $13 million

26.5 million

Joe Schmick

$900

$250

Carter Suzan

Radio Advertising

$122

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/10/13/where-marijuana-is-legalized-decriminalized-or-on-the-november-ballot/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/exploding-marijuana-soda-bottles_n_5956718.html

Political Pitch

As recreational marijuana rapidly blossoms into a booming state industry, mountains of municipal and county code must follow to regulate the bourgeoning marketplace. While the Liquor Control Board handles licensing and tax regulations, responsibility for health and fire code has been wildly devolved to local governments. The LCB pressures newly-licensed growers to quickly usher in their plants for operations, giving municipalities little time to draft comprehensive sets of appropriate health and fire code to regulate the businesses.

I’d like to write a story checking in on local health and fire code writers and how they are responding to the pressures of new I-502 businesses. I can compare their responses to that of code writers in Seattle, Spokane and other assorted local governments.

Why now: On the eve of election season, many states are interested to see how Washington is handling recreational marijuana implementation.

Sources:

Pullman Fire Chief Mike Heston: (509)338-3272

Michol Ann Jensen, Executive Assistant, City of Pullman: (509)338-3208

Brian E. Smith, Liquor Control Board Director of Communications: (360)664-1774

Seattle Fire Marshals’ Office: (206)386-1164

Pete Dickenson, City Planning

Format: 500 Words

Hidden Away in Palouse, a Community of Artists Thrives

Summary: The small, agricultural town known as Palouse has a thriving community of multidisciplinary artists and a few venues for artistic display.

Outline:

I) Introduction

·         Setting the scene

·         Brief description of Palouse

II) The Green Frog Café

·         Featured Artist

·         Owner’s belief as to why there is so much talent the community

III) Mary Rothlisberger

·         Occupation

·         Feelings about Palouse

IV) The Bank Left Gallery

·         Basic description

·         Tina Ochs, featured artist and former WSU faculty member

V) Why Palouse?

·         Privacy

·         Creativity

Sources

·         Mary Rothlisberger: 509-288-1313

·         Pamela Duran: 509-878-1391

·         Paula Echanove: 509-595-1885

·         David Wold: 540-656-9542

·         Tracy Milano: tmilano@wsu.edu

Overarching trees line each end of the isolated gravel road.

The path traverses the crest of a quiet hill, and gravestones dot the sloping grassland on either side. Vibrant and rolling farmland abounds in every direction. A few scattered country homes litter lower parts of the elevation.

Looking northwest, the outskirts of a small town can be seen flanking each side of a thin river. This little community is known as Palouse, and it is tucked right next to Washington’s eastern border, 15 miles north of Pullman.

In the belly of one of Washington’s richest agricultural regions, Palouse is equipped with many of the quaint features one would anticipate: outlying farms, grazing livestock, old train tracks, a singular main street for local businesses and numerous rocking-chair-equipped white porches. However, hidden away in the roughly 1000-person town is something different, something less expected: a talented, multidisciplinary community of artists and creative minds.

“There’s a ton of artists here,” said Paula Echanove, co-owner of the Green Frog Café in Palouse. “We have a lot of talented people in this community.”

According to Echanove, the Green Frog features artwork from four or five local artists.

David Wold, a sasquatch-tracking cryptozoologist, is one of the painters featured in the Green Frog. Wold lived in Palouse until last December and is well-known around the community for his variety of interests. He now lives on the East Coast.

Echanove attributes part the town’s wealth of artistic talent to its proximity with Washington State University.

“We are fortunate to live next to the university and its diversity,” Echanove said.

WSU’s presence can felt throughout the community.

“Palouse is the most awesome place in the world,” said Mary Rothlisberger, a WSU alum and traveling community sculptor who calls the town home.

Rothlisberger received her MFA in sculpture and is a citizen artist who spends much of her time on the move throughout the world to develop art within the existing culture of various communities.

While she works as full-time artist, Rothlisberger emphasized how many community residents embrace art in their day-to-day lives regardless of their profession.

“There is not a lot of pressure for commercial art,” Rothlisberger said, noting the town’s significant number of quilters, painters and drawers.

Town residents do not have to go far to see local pieces showcased. Cruising down Main Street, one will see regional art displayed in the Bank Left Gallery on the southern end of town.

Opened in 2005, the gallery utilizes the former Palouse bank building and is paired with a neighboring bistro and tearoom.

“We have lots and lots of artists that we represent that are from Palouse,” said Pamela Duran, who runs the gallery with her husband Nelson.

The gallery features new artists every month. One of the summer’s featured artists was Tina Ochs, a former WSU faculty member and current Palouse resident. Ochs painted several mannequins to match the different seasonal colors found in the scenery around Palouse. She also bedecked the gallery in flowers.

The building itself was built in 1889 and to this day still has the bank’s original stained glass windows and vault, Duran said.

What about Palouse attracts such an artistic community?

“There’s a certain privacy,” Duran said. “Being in Palouse offers that opportunity. When I moved here I felt it was like it was a storybook little town. It allows people to tuck away and do their art.”

It is the wonder of the town that keeps people like Rothlisberger coming back.

“What’s different about Palouse is that I consider everyone an artist,” Rothlisberger said. “Everyone is really creative. Creative about problem solving, creative about making time for each other. It’s a creative community as opposed to a consuming community. A lot of communities just consume culture, but the people in Palouse create it.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/04/entrepreneurs-eye-emerging-marijuana-markets/15522833/

http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2014/10/marijuana_news_oregons_propose.html