COTATI REJECTS MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

Dona Frank's plan to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Cotati
has gone up in smoke.

The City Council unanimously rejected the Santa Rosa pot purveyor's
bid for a license to operate on East Cotati Avenue, saying the
building she had chosen did not meet parking requirements.

Now, Frank, the owner of the three-year-old Organicann dispensary on
Santa Rosa Avenue, is looking at another location because the lease
is set to expire.

Frank has applied for permits to set up shop in the unincorporated
county on East Todd Road, about a mile from her current location, a
Sonoma County planning official said.

Her plan to move her business into the light industrial area goes
first to the zoning board and later the Board of Supervisors, said
Blake Hillegas, the county planner handling her case. The process
could take three months or more.

"It wouldn't be completely uncharacteristic of the area," Hillegas
said Tuesday. "There's a fair shot."

Last year, supervisors rejected Frank's effort to open a branch near
Maxwell Park in Boyes Hot Springs, saying the location was too secluded.

In December, a lawyer for her current landlord, Ruben Luna, said
Frank's lease would not be renewed when it expired this month, in
part because Luna never gave his consent to sell marijuana on the property.

Neither Frank nor her lawyer, Lisa Gygax of Forestville, responded
Tuesday to interview requests.

"What is best for the patients is that there is no story and no
comment," said a woman who returned a phone call, identifying herself
only as Jennifer.

It was unclear if Frank would continue to operate from the current
location after this month.

Frank, a former Marin County postmaster and Santa Rosa record store
owner, is one of a handful of marijuana suppliers operating in the
county under the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which
allows people with a doctor's referral to possess and cultivate
marijuana for medical use.

There are now five cooperatives in the county, including two in Santa
Rosa, one in Guerneville, one in Sebastopol and Frank's in the
unincorporated area just south of Santa Rosa's city limits.

There are at least two pending dispensary applications on file with
the county, Hillegas said.

When the Cotati council voted to reject Frank on April 23, she
already had submitted her paperwork to the county, Hillegas said.

Her application seeks a use permit, general and specific plan
amendments, and a zone change from industrial to commercial for an
11,200-square-foot warehouse at 301 E. Todd Road.

The dispensary would occupy about 3,300 square feet of building space
and have 30 parking spaces, nine for employees and 20 for patients,
Hillegas said.