Yakima County commissioners seeking voters’ advice on legal marijuana

YAKIMA – Voters in unincorporated areas of Yakima County will be asked in November if a ban on marijuana businesses should remain intact.

Despite the ban, there are now more than 20 such state-licensed businesses – primarily growers and processors – in unincorporated areas of the county. Most are operating.

Before moving forward with any enforcement action, Yakima County commissioners said Monday they want voters to weigh in on an advisory ballot that will weigh heavily in their final decision.

“This isn’t just going to be political rhetoric,” Commissioner Mike Leita said. “This is going to be action one way or another.”

Marijuana consultant Jeffery McPhee, who represents many of the local businesses, said he’s happy the matter will go before voters.

“We are very pleased with commissioners and they’ve opened up some lines of communication with us,” McPhee said Monday afternoon. “We’re looking forward to working with them and getting this out to a vote and getting this cleared up.”

If the ban is enforced, it would not apply to cities and towns, which can make their own decisions on allowing marijuana businesses. Of Yakima County’s 14 towns and cities, only Yakima, Union Gap and Moxee allow some form of marijuana businesses in their communities.

Placing the matter on the November ballot would result in roughly an additional $5,000 in election costs for the county this year, said county Auditor Charles Ross.

The issue with marijuana businesses came into sharp focus over the summer when state regulations folded medicinal operations into the broader recreational market, which isn’t allowed in unincorporated areas of the county.

Many of the businesses operating despite the ban previously ran low-key operations solely supplying the medicinal market without any interference from the county.

Saying they’ve made huge investments and are employing dozens of people, the owners of those businesses have formed a growers association in an effort to combat the ban to stay in operation.

“There’s been enough changes here where now medicinal and recreational marijuana have combined,” Leita said. “We’re curious to see how voters want us to move forward with this.”

Discussions between business owners and commissioners led to the decision to bring the matter before voters.

Commissioners have said their ban was based on the way 57.8 percent of voters in the county rejected state Initiative 502, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012.

McPhee is confident voters will have a change of heart this time around.

“The 2012 vote did not include medicinal marijuana, and medical marijuana is widely supported,” he said. “We’ll be able to operate freely, provide jobs and so on and so forth.”

If voters support lifting the ban, then a new ordinance would have to be devised to establish proper zoning regulations for such operations.

If voters approve keeping the ban, then the county would take enforcement action immediately, Leita said.

Businesses would be notified they are in violation of the county’s zoning ordinance, and would eventually be taken to court where an abatement would be sought if they refuse to stop operations. Leita said.

“There will be additional cost to move forward with enforcement,” he said.