420 Warrior
Well-Known Member
Collectives Ban Still in Effect, Redding Says.
City attorneys have filed a lawsuit against a medical marijuana dispensary that reopened its doors a week after a Shasta County Superior Court judge denied Redding's request for a preliminary injunction to order storefronts to close.
River Valley Collective opened at 3061 Churn Creek Road on March 21 thinking that Judge Stephen Baker's March 14 decision invalidated the city's ban on storefront collectives.
The suit also names Hamid and Susan Vossoughi, who own the property the cannabis club is occupying, and who, like the River Valley owners, think the ban no longer needs to be followed.
To be sure, the ruling lets dispensaries continue to operate as their legal challenge to the city's ban continues toward a possible trial.
But city officials are warning little has changed regarding its ordinance, and the city will add parties to its lawsuit as necessary.
City Attorney Rick Duvernay said the city has received at least a dozen calls from people asking about opening new collectives.
"Our message back is consistent in that we say the city's ordinance has not been overturned by the judge, it is still valid law and collectives of 10 or more patients are not allowed in the city or in commercial zones," he said Wednesday in an email.
A River Valley owner Wednesday declined to comment.
The collective closed its doors on Placer Street last year before Redding's ban took effect Dec. 1. It wasn't alone. A number of collectives closed voluntarily.
"With the City Council's ban shot down, River Valley Collective is opening up with a brand new storefront!" the collective proclaimed on its website.
Duvernay said the owner of the Churn Creek property used to rent to a different collective that
closed. The owner settled with the city in December, Duvernay said.
"Now he is re-renting," Duvernay said, "apparently believing it is OK to do so after Judge Baker denied the preliminary injunction, although we have informed him it is not OK."
Redding issued permits for dispensaries for two years before enacting the ban last fall.
The ordinance was based on an appellate court ruling that a permitting system for dispensaries in Long Beach went far beyond Proposition 215 and conflicted with federal law.
Redding still allows patients to collectively grow medical marijuana in groups of nine or less.
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Location: Redding, CA
Source: Record Searchlight
Author: Jenny Espino
Contact: letters@redding.com
Copyright: 2012 Record Searchlight
Website: www.redding.com
City attorneys have filed a lawsuit against a medical marijuana dispensary that reopened its doors a week after a Shasta County Superior Court judge denied Redding's request for a preliminary injunction to order storefronts to close.
River Valley Collective opened at 3061 Churn Creek Road on March 21 thinking that Judge Stephen Baker's March 14 decision invalidated the city's ban on storefront collectives.
The suit also names Hamid and Susan Vossoughi, who own the property the cannabis club is occupying, and who, like the River Valley owners, think the ban no longer needs to be followed.
To be sure, the ruling lets dispensaries continue to operate as their legal challenge to the city's ban continues toward a possible trial.
But city officials are warning little has changed regarding its ordinance, and the city will add parties to its lawsuit as necessary.
City Attorney Rick Duvernay said the city has received at least a dozen calls from people asking about opening new collectives.
"Our message back is consistent in that we say the city's ordinance has not been overturned by the judge, it is still valid law and collectives of 10 or more patients are not allowed in the city or in commercial zones," he said Wednesday in an email.
A River Valley owner Wednesday declined to comment.
The collective closed its doors on Placer Street last year before Redding's ban took effect Dec. 1. It wasn't alone. A number of collectives closed voluntarily.
"With the City Council's ban shot down, River Valley Collective is opening up with a brand new storefront!" the collective proclaimed on its website.
Duvernay said the owner of the Churn Creek property used to rent to a different collective that
closed. The owner settled with the city in December, Duvernay said.
"Now he is re-renting," Duvernay said, "apparently believing it is OK to do so after Judge Baker denied the preliminary injunction, although we have informed him it is not OK."
Redding issued permits for dispensaries for two years before enacting the ban last fall.
The ordinance was based on an appellate court ruling that a permitting system for dispensaries in Long Beach went far beyond Proposition 215 and conflicted with federal law.
Redding still allows patients to collectively grow medical marijuana in groups of nine or less.
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Location: Redding, CA
Source: Record Searchlight
Author: Jenny Espino
Contact: letters@redding.com
Copyright: 2012 Record Searchlight
Website: www.redding.com
