ARBITER RULES TRACY POT CLUB CLOSED

TRACY - A medical-marijuana dispensary doing business in a downtown
storefront is in violation of the city's zoning laws, an independent
arbiter has ruled.

The Valley Wellness Center Collective, which has sold medical
marijuana since October to about 200 patients at 130 W. 11th St., is
in violation of the city's municipal code and has until Feb. 9 to
move out, ruled arbiter Jeanne Schechter, who heard the club's Jan. 4
appeal of a city-issued closure order. Schechter, Merced's chief
deputy city attorney, is in a pool of city attorneys on which Tracy
draws to conduct administrative hearings.

James Anthony, the dispensary's attorney, called the ruling "poorly
reasoned" and said he is waiting to hear if the club's operators want
to appeal Schechter's ruling in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

"I don't think they've decided yet whether they want to appeal or
not," Anthony said.

If the club does appeal, Anthony said, he will ask for a court order
to keep the city from taking any enforcement action until the appeal is heard.

The city's legal team will defend a lawsuit if the club appeals in
court, city spokesman Matt Robinson said.

"We're just going to have to wait and see what they do," Robinson said.

The city has no laws specifically prohibiting dispensaries but
considers them an illegal use since they are not addressed in the
city's zoning code. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office
considers medical-marijuana dispensaries illegal.

The club might face fines for each day it remains in operation past
the city's Nov. 22 order to discontinue selling marijuana, though the
city would need to schedule another hearing to determine the amount
of the fine, Robinson said.