Dispensary request causes legal spat in Scottsdale
Downtown Scottsdale’s first medical marijuana dispensary is dead — at least for now — and a state lawmaker has said he may call on the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether the city is violating state law.
Mayor Jim Lane chastised state Rep. Cesar Chavez, D-Phoenix, and an attorney representing the dispensary during Tuesday’s Scottsdale City Council meeting. Lane said the attorney threatened to sue the city if it didn’t approve the project.
“To resort to a threat if we choose to uphold our zoning is a sorry day as far as I’m concerned,” Lane said.
The City Council was expected to vote on a zoning case and a conditional use permit to allow a medical marijuana dispensary called Sunday Goods to open at 4255 N. Winfield Scott Plaza.
In the end, an attorney representing Sunday Goods withdrew its application.
The move comes amid a contentious battle over whether the dispensary belongs in downtown.
A group of Scottsdale property owners filed a successful “legal protest” against the project, meaning it would have required five City Council votes instead of the usual four to move the project forward.
Janet Wilson, one of the property owners who filed the protest, said after the meeting that neighbors knew the project wouldn’t have the necessary votes to pass.
Jason Rose, a spokesman representing Sunday Goods, said the city could realistically face legal repercussions if it doesn’t work to find another space for the dispensary.
“If politics can’t settle the matter, that’s what the courts are for,” he said.
Dispensary vote goes up in smoke
Jordan Rose, an attorney representing Sunday Goods, sought to push the dispensary vote to a future meeting, but the council rejected the delay in a 4-3 vote.
The mayor said another attorney associated with the dispensary emailed him on Tuesday threatening that the city
would be sued if the council did not vote for the dispensary. As a result, Lane said he would not support the continuance.
The attorney, Dale Zeitlin, sent a letter to the city attorney on Nov. 7 saying Scottsdale risked violating state law and “legal claims” from Sunday Goods if it didn’t approve plans for the dispensary.
“Should the City of Scottsdale not pass the pending rezoning/CUP case, the City’s actions will be illegal as exclusionary zoning and contrary to the (Arizona Medical Marijuana Act),” Zeitlin wrote.
Lane, on Tuesday, offered the dispensary the option to withdraw its application and resubmit it at a later date. Jordan Rose agreed to withdraw.
Jordan Rose said dispensary representatives had worked with the city for a year and a half to find an appropriate location for the dispensary.
Jason Morris, an attorney representing Sunday Goods, has previously said the downtown site was selected because the city identified no other locations where the dispensary could be placed.
City rules that dictate how far dispensaries must be from schools have presented a problem in the zoning fight. A preschool operates near the proposed dispensary site, although dispensary representatives have said they made arrangements to relocate the school.
“We want to find a solution,” Jordan Rose told the council. “We’re trying to do the right thing. We were awarded this license by the state and we have to put it somewhere in south Scottsdale.”
Lane pushed back, saying that city staff contested the notion that they directed Sunday Goods to this location.
Jason Rose later told The Arizona Republic that the city planning department directed Sunday Goods to apply for a building in that area of downtown. “How in the world would the applicant know where to go with the space and regulation requirements the city has passed?” he said.
He said city rules cannot be so strict as to regulate the license out of existence. “Unless they identify another location, it’s not going to be a good situation for the city of Scottsdale,” he said.
In 2016, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that Maricopa County had to allow the sale of marijuana by the White Mountain Health Center in Sun City, despite the county’s argument that the federal government prevented marijuana from being sold legally in Arizona.
Arizona voters approved marijuana sales for certain medical conditions in 2010. The Arizona Department of Health Services, which oversees the program, uses a lottery system to award highly competitive dispensary licenses. Sunday Goods was granted a license to operate in south Scottsdale in 2017.
Lawmaker flexes his power over Scottsdale
Rep. Chavez sent a letter to the city saying he was “troubled” to learn that Scottsdale was considering denying the dispensary’s application to operate.
“The City’s failure to promulgate reasonable zoning regulations that permit nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries to locate in specified areas in south Scottsdale appears to be a clear violation of (state law),” Chavez wrote.
Chavez wrote that he would consider calling for an investigation into whether Scottsdale is violating state law.
A 2016 state law allows any lawmaker to request that the attorney general investigate local laws for compliance with state law. If the city is found in violation and it’s not addressed, the state could withhold funds until the problem is resolved.
Lane called Chavez “no friend of Scottsdale” and called his letter disappointing.
“He’s not even close to Scottsdale,”
Lane said.
Chavez represents Legislative District 29, which covers parts of west Phoenix, El Mirage and Glendale.
Arizona lawmakers have flexed their power over cities who pass ordinances that conflict with state law. In 2017, Bisbee repealed a ban on plastic bags as the state threatened to take away nearly $2 million in state-shared tax revenue.
In 2018, the attorney general looked into Tempe’s use of tax breaks at the request of a Tucson lawmaker.