Neighbors want ‘safety, justice, service’

Unlike the state of Colorado, Washington’s entrance into the recreational marijuana business has been totally chaotic!

Nowhere is this displayed more obviously than in our neighborhood at Cassidy Road, Sequim, where recently we were informed that a pot grow and process facility would be placed in our beautiful rural residential area.

Our first concerns are those of safety. There will be no one resident on the facility and security will be taken care of with an alarm system and cameras(?). Additionally the entrance to the facility is exactly opposite a school bus stop.

Secondly, this facility would require excessive amounts of water, high volume electricity, produces a pungent odor, is an ugly set of buildings and greenhouses not in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood and poses questions as to chemicals and fertilizers used, water drainage and disposal of hazardous materials.

This facility belongs in a commercial or light industrial area and not in a residential area. The quality of our lives will be undermined and we already have been informed that our property will be devalued exponentially. This is unjust.

Lastly, we have been treated badly by the Department of Community Development whose job it is to adhere to the rural law of providing freedom to areas with a low density rural setting from commercial, industrial and moderate density residential developments.

A hearing on this conditional permit granted to the applicant to establish this facility will be held in the courthouse on Aug. 13 and the presiding examiner will be Mark Nichols whose campaign pledge is, “Safety, Justice, Service” — exactly the three things county residents in residential settings are asking for regarding the pot business.

Kathryn McCready

Sequim