City Commission Considers Ordering Allegedly Illegal Pasadena Dispensaries to “Remove All Marijuana”

A City Commission will decide tonight if – after officials have already imposed five rounds of cease-and-desist fines – three illegal marijuana dispensaries will be ordered to remove all marijuana and sundry forms and discontinue operations.

All three dispensaries have continued to operate unabated, in violation of the Pasadena Municipal Code, according to the City’s Code Compliance Department.

“There isn’t a grey area. The City’s zoning code has never allowed marijuana dispensaries within the City of Pasadena,” City Code Compliance Manager Jon Pollard said late last month as the City was conducting community meetings about marijuana regulation. “The City Attorney’s office has been taking legal action against dispensaries and more recently, the City has engaged in code enforcement efforts in a multi-prong approach in attempting to shut the illegal marijuana dispensaries.”

Since Proposition 64, the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, passed during the November ballot, some of the nearly a dozen marijuana dispensaries that have popped up in Pasadena over the past decade seem to be determined to stay put hoping the City would recognize them as legal businesses.

The City has conducted community meetings intending to gather inputs on how to regulate marijuana in Pasadena, but has so far not implemented new ordinances.

As of now, the City approaches the issue from a land-use violation perspective.

Two of the dispensaries in the Commission’s crosshairs tonight – one at 1110 E. Green Street 3rd Floor and the other at 1224 E. Green Street Suite 102 – are reportedly owned by Randy Mendoza, who leases the two properties from separate owners, and who operates under the business names Undefeated Collective and Buddha’s Best Collective, according to city documents.

The third dispensary – at 1874 E. Washington Blvd. – is reportedly owned by Sevak Baghumyan who leases the property from Gildarda Martinez, and operates under the business name Green Love, according to city documents.

A report from Code Compliance Manager Pollard shows these three dispensaries were first served Cease and Desist Notices on February 16 as they were violating Section 1.24.10(A), the General Penalty Section, of the Pasadena Municipal Code.

They were also served administrative citations – from First to the Fifth – on February 23, March 2, March 9, March 28 and April 13, with fines starting with $106 each for the First Citation up to $1,072 for the Fifth.

Aside from physically observing the business as continuing to dispense marijuana to customers, Code Compliance staff also contracted a private investigator to actually buy marijuana from the three dispensaries in a “controlled purchase” operation.

The private investigator was able to purchase 3.5 grams of marijuana from each of the dispensaries; the items have been deposited with the Pasadena Police Department.

During Thursday’s public hearing of the Code Enforcement Commission, the operators of the three marijuana dispensaries will be further advised that they are in violation of the Pasadena Municipal Code, specifically Section 14.50.040 subsections 28 and 35 for their businesses being “public nuisance” and being “illegal marijuana dispensaries.”

The Code Compliance Department will also recommend to the Commission that the operators – Randy Mendoza and Sevak Baghumyan – be ordered to “remove all marijuana in its various and sundry forms and discontinue operating or allowing the operation” of any kind of marijuana dispensary activities at their given business addresses.

The operators will be given five days from the mailing or posting date of the orders to shut their businesses down, according to the recommendation. After the deadline, the Code Compliance Department will schedule another inspection of the leased spaces.

Thursday’s hearing will start at 4 p.m. at the Permit Center Hearing Room at 175 N. Garfield Avenue in Pasadena.