Purple Cross Rx director said he plans to open on Bolsa Road
next week
The director of Purple Cross Rx announced this week that he
planned to reopen the medical marijuana dispensary next week at
1980 Bolsa Road, the former site of Del’s Machine Shop.
Scott McPhail, who was evicted by his landlord from the
dispensary’s downtown Hollister location and sued by the city
earlier this year, announced his intentions in an e-mail to The
Pinnacle. McPhail unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the city council
in November and this week said he was not available for an
interview until next week.
Purple Cross Rx director said he plans to open on Bolsa Road next week
The director of Purple Cross Rx announced this week that he planned to reopen the medical marijuana dispensary next week at 1980 Bolsa Road, the former site of Del’s Machine Shop.
Scott McPhail, who was evicted by his landlord from the dispensary’s downtown Hollister location and sued by the city earlier this year, announced his intentions in an e-mail to The Pinnacle. McPhail unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the city council in November and this week said he was not available for an interview until next week.
He did forward a copy of a lengthy e-mail that his lawyer, Jim Roberts, sent to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 10.
“This is (to) advise you that Purple Cross Rx is opening for operations at 1980 Bolsa Road, Hollister, California,” the e-mail began. It continued with pages of information about California law and previous court cases involving medical marijuana dispensaries.
“We want to assure you that Purple Cross Rx is operating lawfully under the laws of the State of California in every possible way,” Roberts’ e-mail said. “Membership in Purple is open only to verified qualified patients and primary caregivers.”
The message was sent to Deputy Sheriff David Zander, who thanked Roberts for the information “and the open dialogue.” He said he would review the information over the next week and get back to Roberts by e-mail.
Zander could not be reached by The Pinnacle for comment before press time Wednesday.
Roberts told Zander by e-mail that his “input is welcome” and that the dispensary “looks forward to working with law enforcement to keep their facility a safe and positive element in the community.”
County Supervisor Margie Barrios, whose district includes the Bolsa Road site, said she has received “a few” phone calls from concerned citizens, most of whom “were not happy with the idea.”
She said she referred those concerns to the county planning department, which indicated that the county “does not have any kind of ordinance that governs this sort of activity.”
“My concern is that because we don’t and that there are also different state and federal regulations, it becomes very difficult to support something of that nature,” Barrios said.
While saying that the issue of regulating medical marijuana dispensaries has not come before supervisors, she did note that “I’m sure we’ll be hearing about it in a more formal manner, either in the way of an ordinance or from concerned citizens. We haven’t heard the last of it.”
Byron Turner, assistant director of planning for San Benito County, said Wednesday that his office had not issued “any permits for that use,” referring to a dispensary.
“I don’t believe that use could go in an agricultural zone,” he said. “We would direct them toward a commercial zone, in which case they’d have to apply for a C-district (commercial district) review” by the planning department.
If Purple Cross does open in violation of county zoning rules, Turner said his office could issue a zoning violation in the form of a letter.
“We would work with the (district attorney’s) office to determine the best course of action from there,” he said, noting that while his of fice has not spoken with McPhail about zoning issues at the property, it did issue building permits for structural changes at the site.
Despite opposition from city leaders, who claimed that it was operating outside of zoning rules, Purple Cross initially set up its operation in January at 335 San Benito St. near the busiest intersection downtown. After the city sued Purple Cross and its landlord in an attempt to force the dispensary to move, the landlord attempted to evict McPhail.
Eight months later and just before the city’s lawsuit was set to go to court, McPhail pulled up stakes and moved the dispensary’s offices and his music label – Felony1 Records – to 1785 San Felipe Road, the former location of the Dance Factory.
The city dropped its lawsuit and McPhail said he would not distribute marijuana from the site near the Hollister Airport. He did, however, continue delivery of medical marijuana to more than 400 clients in San Benito County.
At the same time, he opened another Purple Cross dispensary in Los Banos, drawing the ire of law enforcement and city officials there. His landlord in Los Banos and at the San Felipe site is former San Benito County Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, who said in a previous interview that McPhail assured him that Purple Cross would not welcome clients into the Hollister location without permission from local government officials.
