LYNNWOOD—The Lynnwood City Council continued the conversation of allowing retail cannabis stores to operate within city limits at its Business Meeting Monday, July 14, discussing allowable zones and distance buffers from restricted entities with city staff.
David Kleitsch, DBS Director, Rebecca Samy, Principal Planner, and Zack Spencer, Planner, asked council – by way of ‘thumbs up’, ‘thumbs down’ – which zones they would be open to having retail cannabis operate within. The process was not a vote, Samy noted, but just a way to gauge council direction on how to move forward.
One-by-one, Ramy led council through the various zones that would be allowed to have retail cannabis stores including: Neighborhood Commercial, General Commercial, Highway 99 Mixed Use, City Center, Alderwood, Alderwood-City Center Transition, Planned Commercial Development, and Light Industrial.
However, there was some pushback from council with Councilman David Parshall abstaining from participation stating his reasoning that the council has not yet had the opportunity to hear from Lynnwood stakeholders, schools, healthcare professionals, and people with lived experience with cannabis use disorder.
Council member Decker, who opposes allowing retail cannabis within Lynnwood altogether, made things simple by prefacing that he would be voting no to every zone to avoid the “headache” of shaking his head on each zone.
Samy acknowledged it was a bit of a “clunky” process but explained that “this is how the sausage gets made.”
Next, council had the opportunity to add or amend, the list of restricted entities where retail cannabis stores could not operate. As it stands the list of restricted entities include elementary or secondary schools, public playgrounds, recreation centers or facilities, childcare centers, public parks, public transit centers, libraries, and game arcades where admission is not restricted to persons aged 21 or older (by state law).
Council President Nick Coelho requested that the city add planned parks, Councilman Parshall requested the city add Edmonds School District properties, drug treatment facilities, and essential public facilities, and Councilman Patrick Decker requested the city add religious institutions (such as churches) to the restricted entity list.
Council member George Hurst grew frustrated with the process halfway through, noting that the council voted 5-2 in an intent to allow retail cannabis to operate within the city yet the process allows for the two opposing votes to essentially vote against allowing retail cannabis in virtually every zone, thus making the process a “waste of time.”
“We have two council members who voted against it, they are going to bring up every restriction they can so the whole city will not be allowed to have retail cannabis. This whole exercise is really starting to create angst amongst me that we are wasting our time,” said Hurst.
Hurst also disagreed with Coelho’s addition of future planned parks to the list calling it a “mistake” to add restrictions to any planned future projects seeing as there have been several planned projects that have not happened.
Following Hurst’s dismissal of the “exercise,” staff moved forward with the topic of distance buffers—the distance in which a retail cannabis store can, or cannot, operate within a restricted entity. Council President Coelho suggested the council reduce the buffer distance from the state’s 1,000-foot restriction to 100-feet (or 40 steps), as a starting point, which most of the council agreed to.
This would allow the draft ordinance to reduce the buffers for all permitted zones to 100 feet. However, buffers cannot be reduced from the 1,000-foot buffer for any primary, secondary schools or public playgrounds per state law.
According to research by the Lynnwood Times, if the council moves forward with the 100-foot buffer, the city will have one of the most “relaxed” cannabis laws in the state of Washington, including the City of Seattle that has a 350-foot minimum. Below the buffer zones approved by a few municipalities along I-5:
- City of Mukilteo: 1,000 feet buffer zone [Link]
- City of Edmonds: 1,000 feet buffer zone [Link]
- City of Everett: 1,000 feet buffer zone [Link]
- City of Bellingham: 1,000 feet [Link]
- City of Vancouver: 1,000 feet [Link]
- Snohomish County: 1,000 feet [Link] of schools.
- City of Olympia: 500 feet [Link]
- City of Seattle: 350 to 500 feet [Link]
- City of Tacoma: 100 feet [Link]
Council member Decker interjected after the end of the presentation by reading a recent news report regarding an ICE raid at a California cannabis manufacturer on July 10, where they found multiple undocumented minors producing cannabis. He asked that if council should only allow ethically sourced products in retail cannabis operations and restrict the cannabis farmer Glass House from selling in Lynnwood stores.
“We’re all about protecting youth. Would we not like, as a council, to say that our stores will not sell products that came from factories where child labor was being used to produce the product,” asked Decker.
Hurst dismissed this request saying that the city would then have to evaluate which products (including clothing and shoes) are the result of child labor, calling Decker’s point “grandstanding.”
Council President Coelho then moved to allow retail cannabis in the following zones: General Commercial, Highway 99 Mixed Use, City Center, Alderwood, Alderwood City-Center Transition, and Planned Commercial Development. This was seconded by Council member Joshua Binda.
The vote passed 5-2 with Council members Parshall and Decker dissenting – the two votes who voted against allowing retail cannabis stores to begin with.
“I’ve said this many times I’m not against retail cannabis, I am against high potency cannabis which poses as a mental health risk for the community,” said Councilman Parshall. “I’m upset that this whole thing was put forward with no input from Lynnwood stakeholders. We have no idea how they feel. Some big decisions were made tonight, and I don’t think we did a good service to Lynnwood voters.”
Council heard from both Washington Representative Lauren Davis, urging council to consider retail cannabis’ effects on community health, as well as lobbyists in favor of allowing retail cannabis, but Parshall pointed out that the council has not heard from drug treatment facilities, schools, or weighed the opinions of residents.
To Parshall’s point, Councilman Robert Leutwyler added that Washington voters approved the sale of retail cannabis and that, while it poses health concerns, it’s no different than alcohol or tobacco which kills “hundreds of thousands of people.” At the end of the day, according to Leutwyler, adults assume the risks of their decisions (when they drink, drive, or use cannabis).
These sentiments were echoed by Council member Joshua Binda who said that he is “standing up for the rights of voters,” and supporting the operation of retail cannabis to “support democracy.”
The Planning Commission will now take Council’s guidance into consideration when drafting an ordinance which council plans to vote on this September. Voters will have the opportunity to share with council their thoughts on whether the council should or should not allow retail cannabis in Lynnwood at the following Public Hearings:
- August 14: Planning Commission Public Hearing
- September 8: City Council Public Hearing
Members of the public can still voice their opinions in-person during public comments at regularly scheduled council meetings on July 28, August 11, August 25, and September 22.
The Council is scheduled to make its final decision on September 22, 2025.
Background on drafting a retail cannabis ordinance
On September 23, 2024, City Council motioned for the Planning Commission to review current zoning limitations and restrictions pertaining to retail cannabis within city limits. The Planning Commission returned with their recommendations on March 27, 2025, though Council expressed the need for additional clarification.
On April 21, 2025, the Planning Commission returned to brief council on recommendations to allow retail cannabis in the following zones: Highway 99 Mixed-Use (HMU), General Commercial (GC), and Alderwood (A) zone subject to the following conditions: provide a minimum 1,000-foot buffer in the Highway 99 Mixed-Use and General Commercial zones for restricted entities, provide a minimum 300-foot buffer in Alderwood zone for restricted entities which are allowed a reduced buffer, and require landscaping, parking, and other standards required for retail use in the underlying zones. The Planning Commission also recommended the city reevaluate the City Center zone for retail cannabis after construction of Town Square Park.
Council affirmed on April 28, 2025: City Council affirmed that retail cannabis should be allowed within Lynnwood and approved a project schedule for Council consideration of an ordinance on September 22, 2025.
On May 5, 2025, City Council developed a list of additional items and consideration for review including maps of required, reduced, or expanded buffers.
On June 16, 2025, City Council reviewed a series of maps displaying the retail zones where retail cannabis could be located.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
