More marijuana stores to be allowed in NE Seattle - Updated

Last month, Mayor Ed Murray proposed new zoning rules to loosen restrictions on where marijuana retail stores may be located in Seattle. Under the proposal, the 1,000-foot buffer around playgrounds and schools would remain in effect while buffers around other places frequented by children, such as day care centers, libraries, community centers, transit centers, and arcades, would be reduced to 500 feet, approximately 1-2 city blocks. The new rule would establish an additional 1,650 acres for retail locations. The proposal would also create a minimum distance of 500 feet between retail outlets.

What does that mean for NE Seattle?

With the proposal, the Mayor's Office released two maps: one showing the current zoning rules and possible locations for retail marijuana shops and one showing the additional areas that would be allowed under the proposed legislation. The map below shows the NE Seattle areas (in yellow) that would be appropriately zoned for marijuana stores under the proposal. 

Red Circle = 500'/1,000' buffer for existing marijuana retailers; Green Cross = 500'/1,000' buffer for existing medical marijuana retailers; Green Area = Areas where retail marijuana is not allowed under licensing restrictions; Grey Area = Areas where retail marijuana is not allowed under zoning restrictions; Yellow Area = Estimated areas where retail marijuana would be allowed.

If the proposal is adopted by the City Council, additional areas in NE Seattle that would be zoned appropriately for marijuana retailers are:

• Along Lake City Way NE,
• Around Northgate Mall, 
• Around University Village, 
• Along NE 45th Street and the beginning of Sand Point Way NE,
• Along NE 55th Street. 

 The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal on Tuesday, December 15.  

UPDATE 12/16/2015: The City Council Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee approved the proposal with an amendment allowing two pot shops to open next to one another. Publicola reported on the committee's debate regarding the impact of the policy on communities of color.

Mayor prepares to make zoning recommendations for medical marijuana businesses

During the medical marijuana symposium hosted by the Mayor's Office last month, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development shared maps of possible scenarios for medical marijuana business zoning.

Two possible scenarios would create 500 foot buffer zones between medical marijuana businesses and places where children congregate including schools, playgrounds, daycare centers, parks, and libraries.  One of those scenarios measures the buffer zones according to "how the crow flies" and one according to "common path of travel" - the shortest walking distance.  This is what the two scenarios look like in NE Seattle:

As the Crow Flies

Yellow = estimated areas for medical marijuana businesses
Gray & pink = medical marijuana businesses not allowed
Red dots = existing medical marijuana businesses
Green dots: existing medical marijuana businesses that would be allowed

Common Path of Travel

If the City decides to use a 500 foot buffer, instead of the 1,000 foot buffer required "as the crow flies" around recreational marijuana businesses, city-wide187 (as the crow flies) or 210 (common path of travel) medical marijuana businesses would potentially be allowed to remain open.  This is in addition to 21 recreational marijuana retailers and an unknown amount of recreational marijuana growers and processors in Seattle.  

Marijuana business density is of concern for teen drug use prevention efforts because research has repeatedly shown that teens who live in communities with many tobacco and alcohol businesses have high rates of tobacco and alcohol use.  A study recently published in the journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that "higher total density of medical marijuana dispensaries was related to greater likelihood of past year use of marijuana."  In other words, the more available a drug is, the higher use rates are.  

How marijuana business density can affect underage use and public health

Why have I been blogging about marijuana land use and zoning issues?  What does marijuana business density have to do with youth substance abuse prevention?

As the Prevention WINS letter to the Liquor Control Board regarding their I-502 initial draft rules says, multiple studies indicate that communities with a glut of tobacco and alcohol retail outlets experience higher rates of problematic use, including underage use, of tobacco and alcohol.  (See references at the end of this post.)

The comments go on to say: 

Neighborhoods should not be over-run with marijuana retail outlets.  This is of special concern in low income neighborhoods where socio-economic disparities related to substance abuse are evident. 

We recommend that the Board be more specific in determining the number of retail licenses in a certain geographic area.  By assigning a certain number by county only, the Board opens up the possibility of a disproportionate amount of those retail outlets being established in a small area within a county.  Specifically, when the Board determines how many retail licenses are to be allowed in King County, we are concerned that a disproportionate amount of those licensees will open stores in Seattle when they should be evenly distributed throughout the county.

Before the approval of Initiative 1183, when the Liquor Control Board considered adding liquor stores several factors were taken into consideration.  Information reviewed included data about demographics including population over 21, population that would turn 21 in the next five years, and overall population growth. Other factors included how much business current stores were doing and convenience to major populations (15 minute travel time to a store).  We suggest that the Board use similar demographic, population growth, and travel time parameters to determine where a marijuana retail store should be located.  By limiting marijuana retail outlets similar to how the Board limited liquor outlets, they will be evenly distributed among the state’s population, regardless of the socio-economic make-up of a community, and accessible to all who want to purchase marijuana.     

Here are a few of the studies about tobacco and alcohol retail outlet density:

Local tobacco policy and tobacco outlet density: associations with youth smoking (Journal of Adolescent Health, June 2012)

Is adolescent smoking related to the density and proximity of tobacco outlets and retail cigarette advertising near schools?  (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, August 2008)

The effectiveness of limiting alcohol outlet density as a means of reducing excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2009)