Property owner tells Snohomish County Council a 2023 code change created a '10,000 foot buffer' that stranded his cannabis retail site

Patrick Gann, who identified himself as owner of Hangar 420 and Ashway Properties, told the Snohomish County Council during public comment that a 2023 code change created an “a 10,000 foot buffer” that has effectively made his leased property unusable for cannabis retail after the prior tenant left.

Gann said he signed a five-year lease and invested substantially to rehabilitate the building after the prior tenant vacated in 2024. “Believing cannabis retail has remained a permitted use just as it has been for over a decade at this property,” he said, adding that neither the property owner nor he had been notified of the 2023 change. Gann said the change turned “a viable commercial piece of property into a stranded asset” and that the buffer, in his view, eliminated competition in the area.

Gann requested a “narrowly tailored correction” and “the opportunity for this issue to be properly heard by counsel.” He said he has “strong community support, over 70 local businesses,” and that regulatory timing related to his licensing and a pending DACA application could force him out of business if the issue is not addressed.

Council did not take immediate action during this meeting on the point Gann raised; public comment closed and the council moved on to the scheduled agenda items. No member made a formal pledge on the record during the session to take immediate legislative action on the buffer; the comment stands as an item for possible follow-up.