Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2008
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Press Democrat
Contact: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/services/feedback.html
Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Paul Payne, The Press Democrat
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

COTATI REJECTS MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

Dona Frank's plan to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Cotati 
has gone up in smoke.

The City Council unanimously rejected the Santa Rosa pot purveyor's 
bid for a license to operate on East Cotati Avenue, saying the 
building she had chosen did not meet parking requirements.

Now, Frank, the owner of the three-year-old Organicann dispensary on 
Santa Rosa Avenue, is looking at another location because the lease 
is set to expire.

Frank has applied for permits to set up shop in the unincorporated 
county on East Todd Road, about a mile from her current location, a 
Sonoma County planning official said.

Her plan to move her business into the light industrial area goes 
first to the zoning board and later the Board of Supervisors, said 
Blake Hillegas, the county planner handling her case. The process 
could take three months or more.

"It wouldn't be completely uncharacteristic of the area," Hillegas 
said Tuesday. "There's a fair shot."

Last year, supervisors rejected Frank's effort to open a branch near 
Maxwell Park in Boyes Hot Springs, saying the location was too secluded.

In December, a lawyer for her current landlord, Ruben Luna, said 
Frank's lease would not be renewed when it expired this month, in 
part because Luna never gave his consent to sell marijuana on the property.

Neither Frank nor her lawyer, Lisa Gygax of Forestville, responded 
Tuesday to interview requests.

"What is best for the patients is that there is no story and no 
comment," said a woman who returned a phone call, identifying herself 
only as Jennifer.

It was unclear if Frank would continue to operate from the current 
location after this month.

Frank, a former Marin County postmaster and Santa Rosa record store 
owner, is one of a handful of marijuana suppliers operating in the 
county under the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which 
allows people with a doctor's referral to possess and cultivate 
marijuana for medical use.

There are now five cooperatives in the county, including two in Santa 
Rosa, one in Guerneville, one in Sebastopol and Frank's in the 
unincorporated area just south of Santa Rosa's city limits.

There are at least two pending dispensary applications on file with 
the county, Hillegas said.

When the Cotati council voted to reject Frank on April 23, she 
already had submitted her paperwork to the county, Hillegas said.

Her application seeks a use permit, general and specific plan 
amendments, and a zone change from industrial to commercial for an 
11,200-square-foot warehouse at 301 E. Todd Road.

The dispensary would occupy about 3,300 square feet of building space 
and have 30 parking spaces, nine for employees and 20 for patients, 
Hillegas said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake