Seth Simpson said everything was in place to open his recreational marijuana store in Bellevue, but the city’s decision that a competing retailer had received licensure first meant prohibiting his from existing so close to the other. Now the Greensun co-owner and partner David Ahl are suing the city to open its doors.

At issue is a separation rule proposed and implemented by City Council in its interim ordinance regulating recreational marijuana stores in Bellevue, preventing such businesses from opening within 1,000 feet of each other.

The city decided Green Theory received its licensure from the Washington State Liquor Control Board first, preventing Greensun from opening across the road downtown on Main Street. The city issued the Greensun Group a letter on July 29 stating Green Theory received a letter from the WSLCB on July 3 that could be used as a temporary operating permit, making it first to be licensed.

But Greensun contends in its lawsuit filed Monday that both licenses were issued by the liquor control board at the same time, and Simpson said the city showed preferential treatment to Green Theory, despite his business being closer to opening.”We were ready to open,” he said. “We had everything in place. We were just waiting for (the city) to issue us the building permits and the business license.”

The city of Bellevue has confirmed it received a copy of the lawsuit by Greensun Group, LLC., and are reviewing it now. The city told the Reporter it did not have a statement Monday, but would provide one when and if it becomes available.

Greensun has been under lease at its 10600 Main St., location for the past two years, putting in about $500,000 into designing the space first to be a medical marijuana dispensary, but the city didn’t allow them to open due to it not conforming to zoning regulations in that part of Bellevue. Simpson said he just wants to be able to open his business, which will be similar to the one Greensun operates in Des Moines.

To do that, Simpson said the city needs to drop its rule barring two marijuana businesses from opening within 1,000 feet of each other, which he said never applied to liquor stores. He added the idea of using the buffer to prevent clustering stores together doesn’t make sense when Bellevue is only allowed four stores by the WSLCB.

“If you have two next to each other and there’s only four allowed in the city, it’s not like you’re going to have a cluster of marijuana businesses,” he said.

Green Theory opened in early October at 10697 Main St., and The Novel Tree opened Sunday at 1817 130th Ave. N.E.