It looks like the party is over for Purple Cross Rx, the medical marijuana dispensary embroiled in a legal battle with the county since opening on Bolsa Road in late 2010.
That is because Judge Harry Tobias recently signed off on a final statement of decision – filed last week – against Purple Cross in its lawsuit versus San Benito County. The judge’s decision also comes on the heels of the California Supreme Court ruling that allows municipalities to ban marijuana dispensaries for zoning reasons – the very justification cited by the county while trying to shut down the pot shop for the past two years or so.
Tobias in his decision – first made in November before the final judgment came down last week – cited a recent California Supreme Court case allowing municipalities to ban such dispensaries through their local zoning ordinances.
The county has argued that the dispensing of marijuana violates the local zoning designation for that area along Bolsa Road calling for agricultural use, while Purple Cross attorneys and Director Scott McPhail contended the dispensary is a seasonal agricultural operation because it grows and sells marijuana on site.
Tobias sided with the county. Its attorney, Roseville-based Derek Cole, prepared the judgment.
“By operating a marijuana collective within the AP (agriculture productive) Zoning District, Purple Cross seeks to disrupt the County’s policy judgment by maintaining a land use not deemed appropriate for its location or compatible with its surroundings,” according to the judgment.
Neither Purple Cross attorney James Roberts nor McPhail could be reached before press time. An employee answered the phone at Purple Cross on Tuesday, but said McPhail was not in.
Cole said it is unclear if Purple Cross plans to appeal the decision. He said the county has agreed to give the collective and property owner “some time to decide whether or not” to shut down.
“If they decide to continue operating, we’ll move forward with enforcement,” Cole said.
The dispensary’s issues with the county were part of the second round of legal troubles for the club locally. When Purple Cross opened in downtown Hollister in January 2010, the city contended the dispensary was operating in defiance of local zoning regulations. The city sued the dispensary and its landlord in an attempt to force it to move, which it finally did in August 2011, just before the matter was set for court.
From the county’s side, the court process really started when supervisors in August 2011 held an administrative hearing and officially declared the Bolsa Road dispensary to be a public nuisance that needed to be abated. During the hearing, the county made its case that Purple Cross was operating in an area zoned as agriculturally productive, meaning retail business is not allowed there without a special permit.
By a vote of 4-1 after the 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.
Purple Cross has been at odds with local law enforcement as well. At one point in April 2011, authorities raided the dispensary, with United Enforcement Narcotics Team officers confiscating more than 1,600 grams of processed marijuana, 59 grams of hash and 135 immature pot plants. Authorities also took receipt books that noted nearly $94,000 in sales and more than $8,300 in payments from Purple Cross to vendors.
As for Hollister police, the department irked McPhail in December 2011 when the agency reported that pot had been found at R.O. Hardin Elementary School’s playground – and stressed there had been Purple Cross insignia on the baggie.
