On Monday, February 1st, the Ferndale City Council lifted its emergency moratorium prohibiting new marijuana retail stores in the city. A summary of Monday’s City Council meeting can be found here.
Currently, there is one retail marijuana store in Ferndale, which is located along Portal Way. The lifting of the City’s emergency moratorium, will allow one additional retail store to locate within Ferndale per recent state legislation that increased the cap on the number of retail stores statewide.
The new retail store may only be located within the City’s General Business Zone. Ferndale’s revised marijuana ordinance and maps showing where marijuana business may locate can be found here.
There is likely going to be a great deal of competition to obtain the single retail license available in Ferndale. Although Washington State has increased the number of retail marijuana stores that may be licensed, it is not clear as to whether all of these new retail license applicants will be able to find suitable locations given local zoning restraints and local bans.
Other jurisdictions should follow Ferndale’s lead and lift their retail marijuana bans. By doing so, cities and counties will not only obtain tax revenue from these businesses but will also assist in the success of the legal marijuana market.
For more information on the regulation of marijuana businesses, please contact Heather Wolf.