2018/05/09 Council Agenda Packet

Supplement to Council Packet Wednesday May 9, 2018 Information provided by: Philip Dawdy, Josh Estes & Sean L. 0 Sullivan Case for Five Additional Retail Stores When the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board allocated an additional five retail licenses to Everett in 2016, its intent was to fully serve the existing medical patient market and to eliminate the illicit market for adult-use sales. The statewide average distribution of stores per capita is about one store per 12,000 residents. With the current moratorium on the additional five stores in Everett, the city has a distribution of one store per 22,000 residents, one of the lowest concentrations of stores of any municipality in Washington. This lowered concentration directly impacts existing medical patients who do not have the level of access that they had prior to the elimination of the medical market. If all 10 stores are allowed for in Everett, then the city's distribution would line up closer to the statewide average at one store per 11,000 residents, making it easier for customers and medical patients alike to reach these stores. More Stores Eliminates the Illicit Market Using Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as an example: when the WSLCB enacted its first round of retail licensing in 2014, one store opened in this Seattle neighborhood and yet, the illicit market for cannabis continued apace. It was only after that another store opened in 2016, (following the second round of retail store licensing),that long-time commercial "pot dealers" in the neighborhood were pushed out of business. Increasing the number of stores allowed in Everett will have a similar impact as it did in the Seattle example, which will increase access to licensed, legal and responsible shops aiding in the elimination of the black market. The 500 Foot Dispersion Rule Works Not all communities in the state have dispersion rules for stores, (primarily because they are smaller cities or counties with smaller store allocations), but for those which do have the one store within 300 to 1,000 feet of another store rule, not a single community has felt the need to re-adjust the dispersion rule after the fact. This is an indication that such a dispersion rule is working well in King County and Tacoma. Part of the reason a decrease to 500 feet in Everett is needed is simply to make more potential retail locations available to the second round of five stores than would be available under the current 2,500 foot dispersion rule, which is one of the toughest in the state. Allowing for a reduced dispersion rule will set the additional shops up for the kind of success that will benefit the city as a whole. We are not opposed to a buffer of 1000 feet if the council feels that it is too early to reduce to 500 feet at this time. Options on Buffers Another means to potentially creating more available real estate would be to recommend that some of the non-K-12 school and non-playground sensitive use buffers be shortened from their current 1,000 feet from stores. This is allowed for under state law per 2015's S. 2136 and is in conformity with