SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.
The applications and scoresheets for Orcutt will not be released yet, Heaton said.
The release of documents that had been kept under wraps for months was ordered by Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne beginning June 11, in a lawsuit filed against the county by Natural Healing Center Orcutt 405.
On May 21, Sterne issued a tentative order upholding the county’s scoring methods for the center, which included a review of business operations and neighborhood compatibility.
At that hearing, the Natural Healing Center will again allege that the county’s scoring was “arbitrary and capricious,” this time armed with examples from other applications, said Randy Fox, the center’s attorney.
“We’re saying we belong in the final group,” Fox said.
Countywide, 22 teams applied for the right to open cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas, and eight of the losing applicants, including the Natural Healing Center and Cottonwood Roots in Los Alamos, sent in letters of protest after the county released the preliminary rankings in March, Heaton said.
One team that filed a scoring protest earlier this year was Cottonwood Roots of Los Alamos, a group that boasted near-unanimous backing from local businesses and turned in 120 signatures on letters of support from business owners and residents.
Before the county ranked the cannabis storefront applicants, Heaton said, “There was a lot of opportunity for the public to weigh in.
The county reviewed two applications for cannabis storefronts on Santa Claus Lane.
There’s no indication that the county considered any of the reams of opposition that they have in their files.
In an interview, Heaton said it was not the board that selected Santa Claus Lane for a cannabis storefront.