Wasilla pot shop near Knik Charter School surrenders its state license

The marijuana store 530 feet from Knik Charter School near Wasilla, which lost a two-year zoning fight in court, no longer holds a state license. As of Sunday, Sept. 27, the state's license search lists the Shoreline Cannabis store on East Snider Road as surrendered. The Shoreline Cannabis name now belongs to a store on Spenard Road in Anchorage, which is listed as active under the same state business license number.

Matanuska-Susitna Borough code requires marijuana stores to be at least 1,000 feet from school grounds at the time the store is established. The fight was over what "established" means. Knik Charter began classes Aug. 16, 2022. Shoreline started its state application that April but didn't get a borough permit until February 2025.

The borough Planning Commission denied the store's permit in July 2024. That November, the borough Board of Adjustment and Appeals reversed the denial, ruling that Shoreline was established on June 5, 2020, when owner Justin Benson's company, Lake Landing Investments LLC, filed its business papers. That was 26 days before the charter school applied for its grant. The permit was issued, and the store opened.

The borough appealed. In October 2025, Superior Court Judge Jonathan Woodman in Palmer reversed the appeals board, writing that its reading "would lead to an absurd result," because any company could get around the buffer by pointing to the day it filed its paperwork. He ruled that a business is established when it opens with its permits, and that an operating school takes precedence over a proposed marijuana store.

In February, the Alaska Supreme Court declined to review the case. The appeals board then reinstated the original denial, the borough revoked the store's permit immediately, and it formally objected to the state renewing the store's license.

At the Marijuana Control Board's April meeting, Benson's attorney said the store was no longer operating and asked the board to hold off on the renewal while a license transfer was completed. In June, the board approved moving the Spenard Road store's license to Benson's company and upheld the borough's objection to renewing the Wasilla license. Both votes were 4-0.

Because the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Woodman's ruling stands in this case: a store's clock starts when it opens with its permits, not when its owner files company papers.