One of Grover Beach’s first commercial cannabis dispensaries was handed a legal victory after a SLO County judge shot down a neighboring dance studio’s request to halt its operations.
In an Oct. 2 ruling, SLO County Superior Court Judge Linda Hurst denied a request for an injunction to prevent the dispensary, Natural Healing Center, from distributing and selling marijuana out of its storefront at 998 Huston St. in Grover Beach. The request for the injunction is part of a lawsuit against the dispensary filed by the owner of Coastal Dance and Music Academy, a dance studio located across the parking lot in the same building complex.
“We are pleased with the Judge’s decision,” David Separzadeh, co-founder of Natural Healing Center, wrote in an email to New Times. “Natural Healing Center is a first-class operation and a proud member of the community.”
The lawsuit against the dispensary, which sells both medicinal and recreational cannabis products, is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute with the dance studio’s owners. Beginning as early as January, Kathleen Schultz, one of the academy’s owners, raised concerns about the dispensary and called on members of the Grover Beach City Council to deny the company a permit to operate. Schultz claimed that the studio was a “youth center,” and that Natural Healing Center couldn’t legally operate within 600 feet of the business. In a written declaration to the court, Schultz also claimed that the studio’s business had been hurt by the dispensary, which officially opened for business in July.
“From the time that [Natural Healing Center] filed their application with the city … we have seen unprecedented lowering in enrollment for our courses, leading to lost revenue,” Schultz stated. “We have also been told by many parents that they would not come to the studio with their children if the marijuana dispensary became operational.”
However, in a written declaration to the court, Grover Beach City Attorney David Hale stated there was not any evidence submitted to prove the academy was classified as a youth center. In her ruling, Hurst also stated that Schultz and other plaintiffs in the case didn’t submit any evidence that the dispensary was causing a drop in enrollment.
In his declaration to the court, Separzadeh said he’d made offers to buy out the dance studio’s lease and relocate Schultz’s business, which he characterized as “generous and fair.” He also said that his company spent more than $1 million in improvements to the dispensary building and hired 12 employees, at least eight of whom would have to seek other employment if the court halted Natural Healing Center’s operations.
Concern about the negative impact on the dispensary’s business and finances were, in part, why Hurst ruled against the injunction. In her decision, Hurst wrote that she must exercise discretion in favor of the party most likely to be injured by the injunction.
“If the court were to grant the preliminary injunction, [Natural Healing Center] would be forced to shut down their entire business,” she wrote.
The dance studio’s lawsuit, which also alleges breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, and infliction of emotional distress in connection with the dispensary’s operations, will remain ongoing in court. A case management conference is scheduled for Jan. 23 of next year, according to court records. Δ
This article appears in Oct 11-21, 2018.
Sounds like the city politicians would rather enjoy the increased cash from pot sales than their duty to keep it away from kids. Small town politics is always so bad and corrupt.
Perhaps the Dance Studio would be wiser to work with the store to market the dance classes to cannabis consumers?! Duh!
I mean… I know this is the self centered coast and all but sometimes life really is about the future generation and not the money. If this pot store can throw millions of dollars around, they can relocate. Methinks some politician(s) are on the take.
If I took a random person, dropped them off in the parking lot, and told them I would give them $1000 if they could find the Cannabis store, I would never have to pay out. There is NO evidence of which door it is. The windows are opaque, you cannot see ANYTHING from outside. The sign says “NHC” and the word Cannabis is nowhere on the building.
There is no possible way that any children would have any way of knowing anything about the storefront, so they could not be corrupted in any way.
Note that there is a liquor store within very easy walk of the Dance Academy, children can walk inside, and see a FAR MORE DANGEROUS drug than cannabis. That drug – alcohol – is advertised with posters on the outside of the liquor store.
Note that the “Diamond Adult Store” on Grand Avenue has adult items in the storefront window.
In contrast, the Cannabis stores are only noticeable if you happen to know the address, otherwise you probably could not find a cannabis store in Grover Beach. The lawsuit is complete nonsense.
But muh alcohol and porn are easily accessible to children, checkmate! Nice logical fallacy there. Yea because we’ve degenerated that far we might as well just throw our hands in the air and get rid of the few remaining standards we still have.
No, that was not the argument, you missed the core of the argument, which is that the two dispensaries cannot be detected as having anything to do with cannabis. The windows are blacked out, and the word “cannabis” (or any equivalent word) is not on the building, so no child – or anyone else – could be “corrupted” by the store, since they cannot know what it is.
So, the LAWSUIT’s argument of children being corrupted by being “nearby” is nonsense.
The alchohol and porn stores NOT having the same standards was just to point out that cannabis is having to deal with HIGHER standards than any other business. The people suing are not suing the liquor store. Why not, if they care about their children being corrupted? Because their viewpoint is IRRATIONAL. It’s just an unthinking dislike of something they do not understand very well.
“Irrational”… Rationalism is a crcle jrk and can mean any thing to any one at any time, which I think is the crux of our post modern society in general. It’s not that the store is hidden, it’s that it exists there in the first place.
I don’t think alcohol should be so encouraged either, and the porn shops and internet sites should all be shutdown tbh. Thank Clinton for that one. But hey, that’s what a so called rational “as long as it’s between two consenting adults” society looks like, porn and drug shops wherever there is a shekel to be made. No higher values than the economic.
Dude Weed LMAO!!!
Helios Dayspring has advertised his pot business at kids events why wouldnt he open a weed store next to a kids dance studio makes sense to me.