By early to mid 2015,  users of recreational marijuana will likely have another store in the region where they can obtain pot.

Following a late October decision NOT to pass a marijuana ban like those in Richland, Pasco and Kennewick,   Walla Walla City officials have begun to process the application filed by Tangletown Holdings, LLC.   The company, headed up by Amber Kristina Cole, 41 of Seattle, hopes to set up a shop at 927 Main St. in Walla Walla.

City officials say the proposed location so far meets zoning requirements for permanent businesses.   Cole was one of the "lottery" winners of a franchise from the State Liquor Control board earlier this year.

The store would require what is called conditional use permit from Walla Walla officials, and a hearing will have to be held to gather public comment.    Cole has worked selling medical marijuana for over four years, and hopes to have the store open by mid March.

Assuming it opens, it would become only the second pot store in Southeastern Washington, the other being in Prosser.  Outside of Prosser,  folks have to venture to Spokane, as bans are in place in Yakima County and the City of Yakima.

The approval by the City of Walla Walla is an example of how cities and counties are following the legal opinion issued in January by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.   He said, in a non-legally binding decision,   language in I-502 allowed cities and counties to pass their own pot bans within their own city limits.  They can make up their own minds either way.

While the City of Walla Walla has voted to allow recreational marijuana business,  Walla Walla County Commissioners voted to ban it.  So, for now,  weed will be sold inside the Walla Walla City limits, but not outside in the rest of the county.

In our neck of the woods, it's the opposite.  In Benton County,  the weed business is legal, but bans are in place in Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick.

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