Beach Cities Collective may have been slapped with $2.4 million in civil damages in a legal defeat to the city of Dana Point, but it’s not going anywhere, owner David Lambert says.
As a sign of his defiance, he has put up an actual sign – an Adopt-A-Highway sign on the southbound I-5 about a mile north of the Pacific Coast Highway exit to Dana Point. He believes it demonstrates that the medical-marijuana dispensary is into helping the community.
The sign, recently erected by the California Department of Transportation, was paid for by Beach Cities Collective, which agreed to pay a Caltrans-approved contractor $250 a month to cleanup part of the freeway it “adopted.”
Caltrans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I just want all our patients in San Juan, Dana Point and patients in San Clemente to know that we’re still here,” Lambert said. “For being shut down, it’s a pretty bold move.”
Beach Cities Collective was closed by Dana Point code-enforcement officers in January along with two other marijuana dispensaries, Holistic Health and The Point Alternative Care. The city cited municipal code violations involving security, certificates of occupancy and construction issues.
Beach Cities has been embroiled in an almost two-year legal battle with the city, which maintains that dispensaries in town were operating illegally. The dispensaries have denied the allegations.
In March, Dana Point won a lawsuit against Beach Cities, and Orange County Superior Court Judge William Monroe ordered Beach Cities and Lambert to pay about $2.4 million in civil damages. That’s the maximum allowed for violations of health and safety and business and professions codes. In addition, the dispensary cannot reopen at 26841 Calle Hermosa. Beach Cities is appealing the decision.
Mike Killebrew, Dana Point’s assistant city manager, dismissed Beach Cities’ highway adoption as a “token contribution.”
“It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of illegal sales the city suspects they have engaged in,” he said, “and neither legitimizes their illegal activity nor undoes the harm they cause through the sale of illegal drugs in the community.”
At a March meeting of the Dana Point Civic Association, City Manager Doug Chotkevys blamed medical marijuana for an increase in drug problems at Dana Hills High School.
Lambert said Beach Cities had tried to donate money to the city’s parks and recreation department and pay an application fee to set up a Neighborhood Watch program. Lambert said he also tried to donate money to last year’s Turkey Trot two weeks before the annual Thanksgiving fundraiser run by the Chamber of Commerce but was told he missed the donation deadline.
“The reason we went to adopt a highway was because the city refused to take our money over the past year,” Lambert said. “They said they don’t accept money from illegal businesses.”
The dispensaries have argued that they provide medicine to sick people. The city says the dispensaries were selling marijuana for profit for nonmedical purposes. State law allows nonprofit collectives to distribute marijuana to patients with a doctor’s recommendation. The illegal sale of a controlled substance is considered a nuisance, according to the civil code.
“From what I see, criminals don’t typically put their names out there like that, especially on a highway that who knows how many cars drive by every day,” Lambert said.
Lambert’s former partner, Tim Louch, and former landlord, Dr. David Sales, signed a settlement last month agreeing not to sell or support the sale of marijuana in Dana Point. If the two break the agreement, the city can slap about $1.2 million in civil penalties against each of them, said City Attorney Patrick Munoz.
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