County Cracks Down on Cannabis
Landlords of marijuana dispensaries can be fined $500 to $1,000 per day.
By Linda Park
http://rosemont.patch.com/articles/county-cracks-down-on-cannabis-2
Medical marijuana dispensaries and their landlords in unincorporated
Sacramento County may be facing daily fines up to $1,000 starting
immediately.
The landlords also face possible liens for unpaid fines and
injunctions to shut down the facilities.
Sacramento County has begun enforcement against medical marijuana
dispensaries and their landlords for operating without business
licenses and use permits in the unincorporated areas of the county,
even though no such licenses and permits exist.
“While we are working on long?term regulations, property owners and
facility operators need to be aware that there is no plan to
grandfather the existing facilities and enforcement will be stepped
up,” Steve Szalay, then-Interim County Executive, said in a press
release. “We can’t legitimize businesses and property owners that are
ignoring county codes and regulations.”
The goal is for the county to enforce existing local planning and
building regulations for violations of building and zoning codes with
the Sheriff, Building Inspection, Business Licensing and Code
Enforcement departments.
“The reason that they’re doing this is that these businesses are not
operating within the law,” said county spokeswoman Chris Andis. “They
haven’t been. They opened up their business knowing that it was not
permitted, and they’ve got to follow through on enforcing the
regulations.”
Andis said the code enforcement is complaint-driven, so the
businesses will only be investigated if the county receives a
complaint.
The issue came to light during board hearings about how many
marijuana dispensaries were operating without the legal permits.
Click here to see a map of dispensaries that received notices they
were violating county zoning code. http://geocommons.com/maps/80587
“[The board] felt that we have to apply rules evenly, and we don’t
allow other businesses to operate without a permit,” Andis said. “We
don’t allow people to operate illegally, and these people are
proliferating and growing.”
Andis said there are numerous dispensaries that have open
investigations, some open for several months, but that the fines have
not been implemented.
The main complaints the county receives about the dispensaries are
traffic, loitering and odor. The complaints then go into a complaint
system that goes into the code enforcement file for an investigation.
Volen Properties, former landlord of Green Love Holistic Center in
Fair Oaks, said the dispensary left their center several months ago,
but declined to say why.
Marissa Burt, a property manager for Volen Properties, said she had
no knowledge of the new county ordinance.
“I think there is not enough information out there for property
owners on what is the right thing,” Burt said. “We need a yes or a
no. Is this really the law?”
Alternative Medical Source, also in Fair Oaks, opened in February and
is still operating. Employee Kevin Holmes said he doesn’t see the
county shutting down all of the dispensaries because there are too
many patients too sick to drive into Sacramento.
“People would stand up and speak their minds,” Holmes said. “It’s a
state law and we need to persuade the county. I don’t think they
could take it completely out of Sacramento.”
He said dispensaries are very important to the community and having
them readily available for sick patients is needed, since getting
transportation is difficult for many of their patients.
“I would love it if the county board members came and sat here one
day to see what the patients really look like,” Holmes said. “Some
can drive into Sacramento, but others can barely make it out of their
front door.”
Shohreh Mirzania, owner of the Subway in the shopping center next
door to Alternative Medical Source said having the dispensary nearby
does not really affect her business. She said dispensary customers
park in their parking lot, but that isn’t an issue either.
The only change Mirzania said she has had to make because of the
dispensary was making the restroom for customers only, because people
from the dispensary would often come into her restaurant just to use
the restroom.
The county is still working on the issue of having available licenses
and permits for the marijuana facilities, but it has not yet been
decided whether or not licenses or permits will even become available.
Andis said that it will probably take about six months for the board
of supervisors to make a decision.
“We don’t know which way this is going to go,” Andis said. “They are
meeting to craft out what is going to be the best for everybody.”
Is the county taking the right approach toward marijuana dispensaries? Tell us in comments.
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