The Eatonville Town Council was expected this week to add another six months to a moratorium against marijuana businesses. The extension, similar to another one council members approved earlier this year, was scheduled for a decision at the Dec. 14 council meeting. The ban, which only applies to the town, is to be in effect until June 22, 2016. The previous moratorium, authorized by the council last June, is in effect through this month. It outlaws producing, processing and retail sales of recreational marijuana or products containing marijuana. No legalized marijuana businesses can be started during the moratorium period, either. The first such prohibition was enacted by the council at the end of last year. Extensions have been timed for the expiration of each previous moratorium. Town officials have been following court decisions in 2014 that gave local governments the authority to regulate or ban marijuana businesses despite a voter-approved state law (Initiative 502) that allows retail pot enterprises. No such businesses have been proposed in Eatonville since state-licensed recreational marijuana sales became legal, and town officials want to keep it that way pending the outcome of legal tests of I-502 and other issues. The town's Planning Commission has recommended land-use zoning that would give state-licensed retail vendors a place to do business in Eatonville under tight restrictions. But the council is keeping a lid on pot businesses until local impacts such as the financial impact on law enforcement are addressed. Cities and towns want the state to share tax revenue from marijuana businesses in order to help pay for enforcement. In Pierce County, the County Council, citing conflicts between what federal and state laws allow, has banned I-502-sanctioned marijuana operations in unincorporated areas of the county.
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