Pot shop vs. video arcade: City council members call ‘shenanigans’ after marijuana license is rejected

June 16, 2017 | Kip Hill

An alleged space invader is disrupting plans for a new pot shop in a Spokane industrial park, prompting calls of “shenanigans” from an unusual ally.

Pot shop Smokane, located to the west of the East Town Shopping Center, received permits from the city in August 2016 to move to an East Spokane industrial park. Seven months later, its application for a license to begin selling marijuana – a license that is issued by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board – was rejected. The reason? A second business, the “Old Fashioned Fun Arcade,” had gone up in the interim, just 600 feet from the new location.

According to city ordinance, pot shops cannot be licensed within 1,000 feet of any business that caters specifically to kids, arcades among them.

Pot shop vs. video arcade: City council members call ‘shenanigans’ after marijuana license is rejected