WSLCB - Board Caucus
(May 25, 2021) - Local Jurisdiction Outreach

MRSC - Washington Cities Prohibiting Cannabis Businesses (82)
[ Event Details ]

A presentation and discussion on retail store allotments surveyed available licenses and the results of outreach by agency staff to jurisdictions maintaining local bans and moratoria.

Here are some observations from the Tuesday May 25th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) caucus.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • Licensing Management Analyst Kaitlin Bamba provided background on available retail allotments and obstacles like local zoning or bans and moratoriums (audio - 6m).
    • Bamba went over the fundamentals of how WSLCB had been granted authority to set “maximum” retail allotments in law. She described how agency representatives were expected to distribute retail locations by county “taking into consideration population and the needs of medical patients” and that agency rules “further define that the most populated cities within each county are allotted a maximum number of stores with the remainder at-large within the county.” At-large locations could be placed in unincorporated areas of a county, Bamba stated, “or they can actually be within a small city...that does not have a designated allotment.”
      • Officials from Public Health Seattle and King County sent WSLCB Director Rick Garza a letter on March 17th asking agency staff to assist their county-level counterparts to “right-size the retail store licenses allocated to urban unincorporated King County.” The letter reports that as “many cities within the district banned the use or did not end up with potential retail sites available to such a use, presumably due to state or local buffers,” one outcome had been cannabis retail density in North Highline and West Hill. Officials wanted WSLCB representatives to “consider an appropriate balance on community impacts” in places “like the urban unincorporated areas of King County, where marijuana retailers have clustered” in large part because of local ordinances and concerns about an “association between marijuana retail density and marijuana use.”
    • Bamba reported there were “486 retail licenses” issued and “45 [retail] title certificates” which had been “issued in the same jurisdiction in which the license was issued, and title certificate holders have the ability to convert their certificates back into a license if the local ban or moratorium is lifted.” Governments in two jurisdictions had already done so, she added, “we have had four title certificate holders in Clark County reinstate into a license and also two title certificate holders were able to reinstate into a license the City of Everett.”
      • Read about Everett officials’ October 2020 decision to expand allowed retail locations in their city.
    • There were “38 open allotments” that were either “allotments unfilled, which we have 21” mostly in areas with bans or moratoriums, as well as “licenses discontinued, cancelled, or revoked, and we have 17 allotments in that category,” Bamba said. Furthermore, “you will see that this number will change over time,” she mentioned, “as a retail license is discontinued or cancelled it is added back into this bucket...that’s something that we do expect will change over time.”
    • Considering areas with bans and moratoriums, Bamba showed “82 cities in Washington with bans,” as well as “seven counties.” Besides bans and moratoriums there could be “further zoning restrictions that can make it difficult for a retailer to find a location,” she added. Bamba mentioned that the City of Seattle required additional buffer distance between stores and that in the City of Tukwila “we have two licenses allotted there and both businesses are not able to operate because they’re not able to find a location that complies” with zoning rules. She noted the 2015 expansion of allotments in a supposed effort to better serve medical cannabis patients also enabled cities “to modify certain state requirements so they can actually reduce the buffer from restricted entities...to as little as a hundred feet in some situations.”
    • Looking at retail allotments available for the social equity retail license application program to be administered by WSLCB, Bamba said agency staff had been authorized “to issue...retail licenses to social equity applicants” including those not “previously issued by the board,” or those which “have been forfeited, revoked, or cancelled.” She indicated that there were “a total of 38 open allotments” but that only 15 were in "potentially viable locations" without a local moratorium or ban. Bamba stressed the “viable” part “because it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can find a location there just because there isn’t a ban.”
  • Cannabis Licensing Manager Kevin Milovac described outreach to officials from jurisdictions with cannabis retail bans and moratoriums to find out if any were amenable to revising or ending their policies (audio - 4m).
    • Milovac established that 23 retail allotments were restricted by 17 jurisdictional bans or moratoriums and that agency licensing division staff had contacted “jurisdictions who have open allotments to identify whether they would like additional information about the social equity program and retail cannabis licensing overall and to identify if they have any interest in rescinding those bans.” He said that representatives in seven jurisdictions expressed an interest in “additional information and were provided that information,” four were not interested as they were “maintaining their current regulations and restrictions,” and six had not responded to WSLCB staff. Officials who didn’t respond were sent information “based on the email address we had on file,” Milovac noted, and he would be following up with them.
    • Representatives from Lewis County had responded to Milovac in April as they were “considering lifting their ban,” and he met with them to address “a lot of questions about social equity, about the current state of all licensing for cannabis, and if they do lift their ban it’ll effect seven title certificate holders.” Lewis County officials had more questions following the meeting, which he inferred “was encouraging.”
    • Licensing staff had also met with representatives of the Association of Washington Cities (AWC), Milovac commented, saying agency staff had previously conducted a survey of AWC members about retail allotments “to build connections and find out information.” He said that of 44 survey responses from officials saying they were or “maybe” interested in social equity retail locations, nine responses were from regions with bans or moratoriums. Milovac indicated that staff had made contact with representatives of all jurisdictions reporting receptiveness to cannabis licensing.
  • Board members posed several questions about local outreach by WSLCB staff, specifically asking about survey responses from larger jurisdictions as well as concerns over water and power usage.
    • Board Member Russ Hauge asked about larger jurisdictions and the response from places like “Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane.” Milovac replied that those governments had not been contacted because staff had focused on places with bans or moratoriums or that had “licenses available.” Hauge confirmed that the survey data reflected places with cannabis restrictions only and wondered if there was “any plan to reach out to jurisdictions, particularly the larger jurisdictions where there are no bans or moratoria, and ask if they would be interested in more” cannabis retail allotments “given population growth, or change in circumstances, or social equity.” Milovac stated that outreach hadn’t been “a top priority but it definitely is something that we can reach out and inquire” about, which Hauge asked that he do as a “next step” as it would be useful for board members to understand for social equity “and just the general issues of health in the market.” Garrett seconded Hauge’s input on staff outreach (audio - 2m).
    • Board Chair David Postman mentioned the AWC survey which pointed out that “92 of the respondents said they were not even aware of the social equity bill and only 26 were,” feeling it was “incumbent” on WSLCB staff and leaders to “be communicating with local governments...starting at the very basics” (audio - 4m).
      • Postman asked Milovac for “any sense of how open” jurisdictions expressing an interest were, and whether any were “approaching a point where they’re going to reconsider some of these things.” Milovac responded that many officials “were very interested, a lot of them didn’t realize...they had a ban or moratorium” due to turnover in their governments. Some had told Milovac “it’s a whole new regime” in their jurisdiction and officials were prepared “to dive into it” whether through public meetings or dedicated reviews by government staff. He expected the speed of their actions concerning the bans and moratoriums would vary, and that some “may move quickly.” Postman encouraged Milovac to remind interested officials what their region had “done with local bans” and the impact on equity in the cannabis sector. 
      • Milovac said Lewis County officials’ main concern “was wastewater runoff” but that in his time visiting licensed cannabis facilities “they are pretty efficient at their water use and don’t try to waste so much water.” He’d given Lewis County representatives clarification around agency staff’s experience with licensee water usage.
    • Hauge wanted to know if staff had been hearing about cannabis businesses’ “drain on electricity and the increased carbon footprint of indoor grows." Milovac hadn’t encountered that specific concern but noted since Lewis County was “on the westside [of Washington] they would probably need to be an indoor grow, just for efficiency purposes” (audio - 1m).
    • Garrett asked what Lewis County officials’ concerns were for retail stores, and Milovac said they’d voiced broad concerns about “infusing controlled substances into, you know, community” remarking “that’s the way it’s always been.” He described this as a “general stance” of all local governments with cannabis retail restrictions but added that in some places local officials “were looking into all the pluses on it” such as local jobs and tax revenue (audio - 1m).

Information Set