SAN JACINTO: JUDGE ORDERS SHUTDOWN OF MARIJUANA STOREFRONT

A Riverside County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary
injunction Wednesday to shut down a San Jacinto marijuana dispensary
as a public nuisance.

But James DeAguilera, of Redlands, the attorney for Nature's Serenity
in the 500 block of South State Street, said the marijuana collective
will continue operating while he files an appeal with the 4th District
Court of Appeal.

Some $639,000 in penalties have been assessed against Nature's
Serenity as of June 28, Phil Hallberg, the city's code enforcement
manager, wrote in an email.

The city has issued 213 citations against the business as of that
date.

Judge Sharon J. Waters said the injunction was appropriate because the
city had established there were three violations of city codes, which
the city considered a "nuisance per se," and presented enough of a
showing that it probably would prevail at trial in the pending lawsuit.

The judge ordered Jorge Brambila, the co-executive director of
Nature's Serenity, and the storefront's landlords from possessing,
cultivating or distribution marijuana from the location, or from using
the storefront as a medical marijuana cooperative or dispensary.

Attorney Daniel S. Roberts, who represents the city in the case, said
the business is violating the city's municipal code because there is a
ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, the use does not
comply with city zoning rules and the business opened without
obtaining a business license.

DeAguilera contends that for San Jacinto to prevail, it must present
evidence that the activity constitutes a nuisance.

Nature's Serenity opened last fall and subsequently filed two lawsuits
against the city. The one at issue in the hearing asked the court to
stop the city from enforcing its municipal code banning
dispensaries.

DeAguilera previously argued that state laws prevent local governments
from restricting or prohibiting them.

The city countered, asking for an injunction to shut down the
business.

DeAguilera also represents Superior Healing Solution, also described
as a nonprofit collective, which opened this year on Main Street in
San Jacinto. An injunction hearing in that case is scheduled for July
21.