COUNTY DECLARES POT CLUB A PUBLIC NUISANCE

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors on Friday officially
declared the Purple Cross Rx medical marijuana dispensary on Bolsa
Road to be a public nuisance that needs to be abated.

By a vote of 4-1 after an administrative hearing, the board directed
its staff to bring a resolution to a future meeting mandating that
"the nuisance be abated by the county at the expense of the owner
and/or the occupier." Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz was the lone opposing vote.

The decision will likely trigger more legal maneuvers from Purple
Cross, whose attorney said he had hoped to avoid it and that it could
cost the county $200,000 to $500,000 to fight the case.

In a more than two-hour hearing, the county reiterated its case that
says Purple Cross is operating in an area zoned agriculturally
productive, meaning retail business is not allowed there without a permit.

Jim Roberts, the attorney for Purple Cross director Scott McPhail,
contended that the dispensary is, in fact, a seasonal agricultural
operation because it grows and sells marijuana on-site and different
types of marijuana are grown at different times of the year.

He spent much of the morning questioning witnesses for the county,
including code enforcement officer Stacy Watson, assistant planning
director Byron Turner, and UNET officer Michael Moll, who served a
search warrant on the dispensary in April.

Turner said that it is the opinion of the planning department that
Purple Cross is a commercial/retail business that is not allowed to
operate in an agriculturally-productive zone. He also contended that
it does not meet the definition of a seasonal stand, which does not
require special permits.

Watson, in recounting the history of non-compliance notices sent to
McPhail and the property's owner, Stan Smith, said she "is not going
to deny there is some sort of agriculture occurring on site."
However, she said it is not a seasonal operation because "there has
been a continual operation since January. It clearly does not meet
the definition of what seasonal is."

She also pointed out the Purple Cross had been selling packaged
products such as topical creams and lip balm as well as food items
that were not grown on site.

Asked by Roberts if she had been inside the Purple Cross building at
1980 Bolsa Road, Watson said she entered the lobby on July 6 to serve
McPhail with notice of the administrative hearing. He asked how far
she went inside the building, what she observed and what was in the
refrigerator she remembers seeing.

The detailed questioning prompted Board Chairwoman Margie Barrios to
point out that the hearing was "not a court of law" and she asked
Roberts why he was being so particular with his inquiries.

"I represent a client who doesn't believe he's in violation" of
county rules, Roberts said. "I'd like to know what the evidence is
that there are violations of the zoning laws of San Benito County."