(Aug. 28, 2010) -- With a Monday (Aug. 30) deadline approaching by which LB medical marijuana collectives that haven't paid a $14,000+ non-refundable application fee (plus $11,000+ cultivation fee if they grow their own) are supposed to cease operations, disputes are percolating over the substance and procedures applied in LB's medical marijuana regulation ordinance.
While some CA cities (including Signal Hill) adopted moratoria disallowing medical marijuana collectives within their city limits, LB did what L.A. (and some others did) by seeking to regulate (restrict but legally legitimize) some medical marijuana collectives.
In LB, the Council-approved regulations include paying a five-figure non-refundable application fee with no guarantee of approval. The result has brought City Hall revenue along with current and possible future legal challenges.
To our knowledge, the developments below involve separate parties.
On Friday morning (Aug. 27), City Hall won the first legal round in a dispute that arose when city staff declined to accept an application from a medical marijuana outlet that City Hall says is within 1,500 feet of a high school (a buffer zone adopted by the Council in the ordinance; the school is an LBUSD alternative Educational Partnership High School in the 3700 block of E. Anaheim St.) An L.A. Superior Court judge declined (pending trial) to order City Hall to accept the application; a trial setting conference is now scheduled in November.
Supporters of a different medical marijuana collective (100 block of W. Ocean Blvd.) demonstrated outside City Hall on Friday, Aug. 27, objecting to various aspects of LB's application process. The collective operator told LBReport.com that he paid the City Hall required $14,000+ application fee, only to have a City staffer subsequently reject his application claiming the paperwork wasn't properly completed (which the collective operator disputes) while City Hall kept the fee.
Photo credit: Steve Baker
On Aug. 24, during the City Council period for public comment on non-agendized items, an individual cited a June letter (addressed to the City, attn: the Mayor and City Manager) from an OC lawyer who contends that LB's ordinance raises a number of legal issues, including under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The speaker provided the City Clerk with a copy of the letter; to view the letter from attorney Matthew Pappas, click here.
Additional issues may arise in the coming weeks...when City Hall plans to conduct a lottery to decide which medical marijuana collectives that have applied with paperwork in order and paid the required fees will be allowed to continue operating within LB's city limits.
Mike Kowal, Realtor
