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The city of Grand Coulee has denied a business license for a marijuana retail store here.

City Clerk Carol Boyce said Tuesday morning that she is denying the license application by Jean Comstock because it is still a federal crime to possess marijuana. She said she is given the authority by city ordinance.

Comstock’s application had created a storm of protest by more than 25 people who attended to the city council meeting May 19, to ask the city to deny the request.

Many of these same people had attended the city planning commission the previous week to ask commission members to recommend to the council that it deny the application. The planning commission was split with two in favor of granting the license and two in favor of denying it.

The council decided to not address the issue, and passed the problem on to the city clerk.

Boyce received the application the next day and then took some time off because of the holiday. She returned Tuesday with her decision.

Comstock could not be reached Tuesday.

She had received one of the coveted State Liquor Control Board permits, and told the council that if the city issued a license she would open her retail store in an office building on Burdin Boulevard.

The whole issue came on the scene when Washington state voters passed Initiative 520, allowing licensed recreational marijuana retail stores.

The city’s ordinance states that “applications for business licenses may be denied if the proposed activity is deemed to be detrimental to the public peace, health or welfare or is determined to be unlawful or prohibited under city, state or federal laws.”

Those appearing and speaking against the license at both the planning commission and city council meetings largely addressed the “public peace, health or welfare” part of the ordinance.