Moratorium:

Lamont grower permit deemed vested

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Oct 24, 20190

A marijuana grow facility south of Lamont appears to be clear to pursue its operation after consideration by County Prosecutor Denis Tracy on the matter of an I-502 fence being built before the county marijuana moratorium started.

Mark Storey, county public works director, noted to county commissioners Monday that the property owned by Zack Kennedy has an I-502 sight-obscure fence, built in 2017, well before the March moratorium on additional marijuana business activity in the county.

He conferred with Tracy on Monday morning.

Tracy indicated to Storey that the time the fence was built would likely make it exempt from the moratorium.

Storey will now write a similar letter to Kennedy saying what he did for Pullman’s Selway Holdings, LLC in August, which had been granted a county building permit for an I-502 fence three months before the moratorium went into effect.

“The good news is there’s not a lot of houses out there,” said Storey, about the Lamont property.

Kennedy is not included in the roster of state licensed growers posted by Washington state Liquor and Cannabis Board.

The Selway Holdings operation outside Pullman has drawn extended public complaints from neighbors and others which led to commissioners setting the six-month moratorium, then renewing it.

At the end of May, Selway Holdings sent a request to the county to re-examine if Selway has a “vested interest” in growing marijuana, due to their permit from last November for the special fence around their proposed grow facility.

Storey submitted their letter to commissioners and Tracy for review.

The Selway fence was deemed by Tracy as giving them some grandfathering, or vesting.

Similar to Zach Kennedy now, Storey sent a letter to Selway’s attorney in August stating that, after conferring with Tracy, Whitman County “has come to the conclusion that your legal arguments would be very likely to prevail.”