CLEARVIEW —As of Friday, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge is considering a decision on whether to allow a marijuana shop to remain open.
Attorneys from Hangar 420 and Snohomish County were in Superior Court Friday debating an order on whether the recently opened marijuana shop in Clearview complies with Snohomish County code. As of the end of business Friday, a decision hadn’t been made.
Snohomish County wants a judgment that declares Hangar 420’s Clearview location violates a county code which only permits one marijuana retailer within a 2-mile radius in rural areas. The county also wants the judgment to halt Hangar 420 from engaging in marijuana retail sales at its Clearview location immediately, according to court documents.
Hangar 420, which has marijuana shops in Snohomish and Lynnwood, opened its Clearview location, at the intersection of Highway 9 and 180th Street, June 30 after receiving multiple county warnings that opening would violate county code.
At issue is the space allowed between marijuana shops in Clearview, which is 10,000 feet. The Kushery, which previously occupied the Highway 9 and 180th Street location, moved to a new spot located more than 5,000 feet away.
The county attorney argued during the hearing the certificate of occupancy to allow marijuana sales at Highway 9 and 180th Street which was originally given to The Kushery was vacated when it relocated. An attorney for Hangar 420 argued that the certificate attaches to the property.
David Toyer of Toyer Strategic Advisors, who is helping Hangar 420 through the permitting process, filed a code interpretation request with Snohomish County in May. Snohomish County Planning and Development Services responded in late June that Hangar 420’s Clearview location would violate county code.
The county noted in the code interpretation review that Hangar 420’s Clearview location falls within 10,000-foot buffer for required separation between marijuana shops in Clearview. It also stated that The Kushery has “first in time” priority because it relocated to a new location and received a license first, according to the code interpretation.
Hangar 420 can appeal the results of the code interpretation to the Snohomish County Hearing Examiner. Toyer said he filed an appeal Thursday, but he said a date hadn’t been set yet for the hearing.
