HUMMINGBIRD CENTER SEEKS STAY ON CLOSURE ORDER; MYRTLETOWN DISPENSARY
HOPES TO STAY OPEN WHILE COURT APPEAL PLAYS OUT

A Myrtletown medical marijuana dispensary is looking to keep its doors
open while its appeal of a Humboldt County judge's order works its way
through the legal system.

The Hummingbird Healing Center has been operating without a
county-issued conditional use permit since it opened in the Myrtletown
shopping center last fall. The county brought suit against the
dispensary earlier this year, arguing that it is operating in
violation of county zoning ordinances.

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale Reinholtsen ruled in favor
of the county, granting a preliminary injunction that forced the
dispensary to close until the end of the court case or until it
receives a county permit.

Friday, attorneys for the center appealed Reinholtsen's decision to
the First District Court of Appeal, and then Monday requested a stay
on the order that shut the dispensary down.

According to a copy of the document from the dispensary's attorney,
Chris Johnson Hamer, the defense is arguing that Humboldt County Judge
Dale Reinholtsen "committed legal error" when he issued the order that
shut down the site and "deprived its approximately 1,400 patients of
the medication recommended by their doctors to ease their suffering."

The document also states that because the language of the county's
zoning ordinance does not clearly prohibit medical marijuana
dispensaries in that area, the order closing the Hummingbird Healing
Center violates due process protections.

Deputy County Counsel Davina Smith said she could not comment on the
case, as it involves ongoing litigation. She had not yet received a
copy of Hamer's filing seeking to rescind Reinholtsen's order.

In court, Smith argued there is no mention of medical marijuana
dispensaries in the county's zoning ordinance, and they are not a
principally permitted use in the neighborhood commercial zone.
Consequently, Smith argued, dispensaries need to go before the
Humboldt County Planning Commission to obtain a conditional use permit
before opening.

The Hummingbird Healing Center submitted a conditional use permit
application several months ago and it is now pending with the county,
according to county planning staff. Such applications are heard by the
commission in the order they are received. A business called the
Humboldt County Collective submitted an application last May to open a
medical marijuana dispensary in the same Myrtletown shopping center,
and received its conditional use permit last week.