Recreational marijuana shop flourishes next door to Kent

A thriving recreational marijuana store sits along Pacific Highway South as close as possible to the city of Kent, where such businesses are banned.

In fact, when the owners of Greenside Recreational in Des Moines step out their door, they look across the street to Kent, up the street to Kent and down the street to Kent.

“This whole area is a cookie-cutter,” said Seth Simpson, co-owner of Greenside, 23407 Pacific Highway S., that opened in October. “Goodwill is in half of Kent and half of Des Moines. Our building is in Des Moines. The property next door in Kent, the property on the other side in Des Moines. It’s a very strange way to do the city.”

Simpson, of Seattle, already owned the property and building that houses Greenside when he applied to the state Liquor Control Board for a retail license and to the city of Des Moines for a permit and license since the city allows marijuana businesses.

“The boundary between Kent and Des Moines in the area of (Greenside) is irregular,” said Fred Satterstrom, city of Kent planning director. “While the site is located in Des Moines, all the property on the other side of Highway 99 is in Kent. Also, while the properties lying adjacent to this site on the north and south sides are also in Des Moines, that’s not the case with property lying approximately 300 feet to the north and 500 feet to the south, which are in Kent.

“The boundaries here along Highway 99 zig-zag back and forth for reasons only annexation petitioners in the 1950s can explain,” Satterstrom said.

Kent is one of 46 cities in the state that prohibits recreational marijuana sales, production and processing. Another 60 cities have moratoriums to keep marijuana businesses away, according to The Municipal Research and Services Center, a Seattle-based private, non-profit organization.

The Kent City Council voted 5-2 in October in favor of an ordinance to keep recreational marijuana businesses out of town. Kent is the sixth largest city in the state with more than 120,000 people and the largest to ban such businesses. Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver and Bellevue allow such businesses through zoning regulations.

The council majority supports the ban because marijuana remains illegal under federal law and they wanted to see how other jurisdictions handle the issue. Voters statewide passed Initiative 502 in 2012 to allow marijuana businesses to open. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson later issued an opinion that local jurisdictions have the right to ban the businesses.

“It’s kind of a strange thing,” Simpson said about operating so close to a city that prohibits his business. “Kent has a ban on opening recreational stores but it’s not like it’s not happening in their city whether they allow it or not. It’s happening in their city either on the black market or out in the public regulated by the liquor control board (and owned) by people that have passed rigorous background checks and done the due diligence to open the store the right way.

“They can either have that backwards thinking to where they are allowing the black market to flourish or they can just step up and say OK it’s here, we might as well regulate it and make sure it’s safe for everybody. It’s sad to see that Kent hasn’t jumped on board.”

Kent city officials are respective of the choice by Des Moines city officials to allow recreational marijuana to be sold, and know Kent residents are customers at the store.

“The city of Kent has consistently taken the position that it is within the power of each local legislative body to determine for itself whether or not to allow marijuana-based businesses, and, if so, how to regulate them,” said David Galazin, assistant city of Kent attorney. “Accordingly, the city of Kent respects the decision that the city of Des Moines has made. The city has no control over whether Kent residents choose to purchase products at this location on the city’s border, but we expect that Kent residents who do so will continue to abide by the limitations that state law imposes on such possession and use of marijuana and marijuana-based products.”

The Des Moines Police Department hasn’t had any incidents of note with Greenside Recreational since it opened four months ago.

“I’ve heard it described as a nonevent,” said Des Moines Police spokesman Doug Jenkins. “We’ve not had any trouble up there.”

Store employees called police once in January because a customer refused to leave, Jenkins said. He said the only other call revolved around a complaint from a resident who thought a marijuana grow operated inside the business.

“We looked at their security when they opened and it has a concrete exterior so it’s not like someone is going to break through,” Jenkins said. “And they have an armed guard.”

Des Moines officers reported last weekend that vehicles packed the parking lot just north of the facility and that it was doing good business.

“It’s been a nonissue,” Jenkins said.

Kent Police cruise past the store everyday because of where it sits. Des Moines Police have never asked Kent to help out with any incidents.

“I am not aware of any calls for service at that location, due to it being located in Des Moines,” said Kent Police spokesman Jarod Kasner. “Although it is surrounded by city of Kent property, we wouldn’t be made aware of calls to the location (unless as an assist).”

Simpson said the lack of crime should be a sign to Kent city officials that the business is a good business for any city.

“We haven’t seen any issues,” Simpson said. “I don’t see why they can’t move forward in their own city if there are no issues.”

Sales started kind of slow at Greenside before word began to spread that the store had opened.

“It was slow the first month and a half but once people realized there was one here and they didn’t have to drive to Seattle or Tacoma it started to take off,” said co-owner David Ahl, of Seattle. “What helped us is the airport traffic from Google searching. We are getting a lot of airport people from around the world. We see a lot of passports.”

The store sits just 10 minutes south of Sea-Tac Airport so people visiting the state don’t hesitate to make the short trip. A bouncer greets and checks identifications of individuals as soon as they enter the store. Customers must be at least 21 years old.

Most of the customers at the Des Moines shop are 40 and older.

“We see a lot more of the older generation from their 40s to 60s is our main age group,” Simpson said. “We see younger people but not very many of 21-plus.”

The store sold $377,103 worth of product in January, according to liquor control board figures. That brought in $94,276 in sales tax revenue to the state. The store’s sale figures were $218,092 in December and $114,960 in November, its first full month of operation.

Greenside Recreational employs 32 people and the owners expect that number to go up as sales go up with the nicer weather. Starting in April, store hours will expand to 8 a.m. to midnight, the maximum hours allowed by the state. Right now the hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The owners like how sales are increasing, but the federal, state and city taxes (Des Moines has a business and occupation tax) makes it a challenge.

“It’s a really tough industry to be in because we don’t know where it’s going to lead us,” Simpson said. “We hope it’s going to lead us somewhere where we can actually stay afloat but we are not totally positive yet. We set aside taxes for the state and city. People think we’re making tons of money but that’s not necessarily the truth.

“Some of us will make it and some of us won’t. We’ll do our best to keep it going.”

Simpson and Ahl also operate Greenside Medical in Seattle, which sells medical marijuana. They hope to open a recreational marijuana store in Bellevue but are fighting city zoning issues that restrict two marijuana shops from sitting within 1,000 feet of each other.

It encourages Simpson that voters in Oregon and Alaska approved recreational marijuana sales similar to Washington and Colorado.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Simpson said about more and more states approving marijuana use and sales. “Things are changing and I think for the better.”

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