PORT TOWNSEND — Today is the deadline for the first wave of applications from those who want to run a marijuana business, with a total of 88 applications received in Clallam and Jefferson counties to date.
The applications received during the last week of the licensing window will be posted on the Liquor Board’s website next week; announcements have been made on Tuesdays.
The applications fall into three categories — production, processing and retail — with licensees allowed to file for both production and processing while a retailer cannot participate in the other categories.
A lottery will determine which applicants will be awarded one of the limited retail franchies.
Clallam County will be allowed six retail outlets: two in the city of Port Angeles, one in Sequim and three others anywhere else in the county.
Jefferson County will get four retail outlets: one in the city of Port Townsend and three anywhere else in the county.
A marijuana license is an endorsement on an existing business license.
Applicants must go through state and FBI criminal background checks, and cannot have any felony convictions within the past 10 years.
Liquor Board spokesman Brian Smith said there is no set date for the retail lottery but that it will most likely take place in the first months of 2014.
Another license application period also will occur at some point in the future.
“We want the marketplace to define itself, to mature, before we take any of the next steps,” Smith said.
“We are not hurting for applicants,” Smith said.
“We just need to find out how many are legitimate and that their plans for running an operation are sound.”
Smith said applications are vetted with regard to their compliance with local laws, such as the 1,000 foot distance required from schools, parks and major transit areas, and that the local authorities are contacted about each applicant.
“There are a lot of checks and balances,” he said.
One of the retail applicants is Quilcene Village Store manager Greg Brotherton, who wants to operate a pot shop in a newly rehabilitated building at 282332 U.S. Highway 101 in Discovery Bay.
“It’s a brand new venture and no one knows how it’s going to unfold,” Brotherton said.
“I want to help create an identity for what will become a respectable venture, that brings activity that was once in the black market into the light.”
Brotherton hopes that the Discovery Bay location will serve as a go-to place for visitors to the North Olympic Peninsula who are looking for a place to get pot for the weekend “a gram at a time.”
Brotherton said he has investors, a business plan and several potential employees and feels that his retail experience and his current management of a liquor business will work in is favor.
While pot stores cannot sell any other products the proposed location will have a grocery store and a pub and will be a one-stop shop, Brotherton said.
Filings
The Peninsula companies that filed for licenses announced on Dec. 17 are:
Retail
■ Green Orchard, 333A E. First St., Port Angeles (three licenses).
■ Herbal Access, 2427 Sims Way, Port Townsend.
■ Fairview Mercantile, 1400 W. Washington St., Sequim .
■ Fiddler’s Green, 1291 Chimacum Road, Chimacum.
■ Sea Change Cannabis, 282332 U.S. Highway 101, Port Townsend (Discovery Bay).
■ Weeds, 1200 Washington St, Sequim.
■ Weeds, 3368 E. Kolonels Way, Port Angeles.
Among the filers are those seeking licenses as both producers and processors.
They are:
■ Auntie Onolicious, 123 Black Bear Road, Port Townsend.
■ Alpha Budz, 185 Zepeda Road, Forks.
■ Ludlow Farm, 150 Werner Road, Port Ludlow.
■ Mountain View Enterprises, 252 Maxfield Homestead Road, Forks.
■ Olympic Mountain Man Farm, 295 Bear Meadow Road, Port Angeles.
■ Treehawk Farms, 5050 Eaglemount Road, Chimacum.
Producers only
■ Best Budz THC Emporium, 4768 Happy Valley Road, Sequim.
■ Big Belly Acres, 195 Glacier Ridge Road, Quilcene.
■ Flying S Farms, 2674 Dowans Creek Road, Forks.
■ Olympus Horticulture, 123 Elway Road, Port Angeles.
■ Peninsula Cannabis, 3368 E. U.S. Highway 101, Port Angeles.
■ Strait Hydro, 3542 Obrien Road, Port Angeles.
Processors only
■ Gnarley Dog Farm, 480 Larson Lake Road, Chimacum.
■ Mapletree, 1018 Water St., Port Townsend.
■ West Coast Herbs, 1124 W. Ninth St., Port Angeles.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
