More than two years after Initiative 502 was passed legalizing recreational marijuana in Washington, Kirkland’s first marijuana retail store is set to open in the Totem Lake neighborhood.

Higher Leaf’s owner, Molly and Andrew Honig, announced that it will be opening in the middle of February at 12525 Willows Road Northeast Suite 60, near the boudary with Redmond. According to a press release statement, they received their final inspection by the Washington State Liquor Control Board on Monday.

Molly Honig, a stay-at-home-mom with two children, said they have hired a general manager and a staff of nine to work at the store.

She said they were inspired to open the store out of a belief in personal choice.

“I think the legalization of marijuana is one of the most exciting things our state has done,” she said. “My husband and I wanted to bring something that was once a shady business into the light. We really believe in openness and regulation being a positive thing for the state and the industry. We’re hopeful we’ll be successful at that.”

Out of the numerous cities on the Eastside, they decided on Kirkland, which was not only most convenient but had the most transparent process as to which locations were permissible to use, according to Molly Honig.

Yet, she described the difficulty in obtaining a license from the liquor control board, chiefly due to the lack of feasible locations.

“Of the 36 businesses that originally applied to open a retail store Kirkland only 11 were able to meet the requirements to enter the license lottery,” she states in a press release. “Of those 11, the liquor board is processing applicants in the order of their lottery position and four out of the five applicants processed so far have been rejected because of problems with their location.”

The city first tackled marijuana regulations in 2013 when it voted to approve the regulations found in I-502 without adding any additional rules. They later voted to prohibit marijuana businesses from opening up in the Norkirk, Moss Bay and Everest neighborhoods, along with light industrial zones where 50 percent or more of the zone’s boundaries are with commercial zones. In March, the council imposed a moratorium on marijuana stores in the Market Street Corridor and other neighborhoods such as Norkirk after residents complained about the potential impact on traffic and crime. Properties that are located next to the designated Kirkland School Walk Routes are also exempt from having marijuana shops.

The Honigs originally had a leased property but the landlord decided against it due to concerns about banking regulations, as marijuana is still illegal under federal law. They then attempted to purchase and develop property in Rose Hill, but discovered wetlands made it impossible to develop. Their plans at a third possible site, this time an industrial building in the Market neighborhood, fell apart when the city changed the zoning. At one point, the liquor control board told them that if they didn’t find a property within 60 days their license would go to the next applicant.

“There were many points throughout that we thought about giving up… we were thinking ‘There’s no way this is going to happen.’ We would be close to giving up and then think, ‘Well we have to keep trying.’”

Within a month, after going through nearly 100 different landlords, they finally found the property at 12525 Willows Road, where the owner was willing to sell.

Molly Honig said they intend for the store to be inviting, not only to current customers but people new to the industry who are curious about it.

“We think the residents of the Eastside and Seattle have come to expect a certain level of quality,” she said. “We hope to replicate that. We want to be a fun, clean retail store. You walk in and feel good about being there.”

While the city has imposed numerous regulations on retail marijuana stores, many of the council members consider state law to be too restrictive. Their hope is that the legislature and the liquor control board will remove certain restrictions on where they can be located. State regulations, for example, prohibit such stores from being located less than 1,000-feet away from daycare centers and parks. While the intentions of such regulations may be good, the unintended consequence is that cities with evenly-distributed parks or lots of daycare centers can result in a de facto ban on stores in an entire city.

Councilmember Toby Nixon said I-502 is overly strict in this regard and cities like Kirkland need to be allowed to have discretion in deciding where a marijuana store can be located. Many ideal locations for such businesses, he said, are ruled out because they are too close to a park.

“Maybe if we have done a worse job and had a big park instead of little parks,” he said. “That’s not the way it should be. I’m hopeful that we would be able to get some flexibility in that regard.”

Removing the daycare center restriction in particular, he said, would make a lot of potential locations available for prospective marijuana businesses.

“It doesn’t seem reasonable,” he said of the ban. “There are areas like the Totem Lake west area that I think would work really well, except there’s a daycare center across 124th, south of the Wendy’s. It’s unreasonable to me to think even being 500 feet from a daycare should prevent that kind of business from operating in a retail area. Nobody sends their three year old to daycare, they’re always dropped off by their parents.”

Nixon added that fears of marijuana being sold to minors makes no sense with infants, and that the federal Drug Free Zone Act the regulations are based on doesn’t mention daycare.

“I think the solution is going to be cities who have a very open regulatory process, as we do, ought to be able to have some flexibility on that 1,000-foot limit,” he said. “That would open up more spaces.”

Kirkland Deputy Mayor Penny Sweet, who said she has been invited to Higher Leaf’s grand opening, also thinks state regulations are too restrictive in regard to parks and daycare centers, but also believes the city did the right thing by creating their own regulations intended to protect school walk routes. Until the state restrictions are loosened, she said, it will be very hard for additional stores to open.

“There are very few spots where they can go,” she said. “We have daycare centers all over.”

If and when the state legislatures gives cities more discretion on the matter, Sweet believes they should also look into creating a more specific definition of parks that would have the 1,000-foot buffer. Some parks, she said, do not need one and needlessly prohibit stores in their neighborhoods.

“It’s exciting we’re going to have a store,” she said.