[Sativa]

The city's last surviving medical marijuana dispensary is still in business, but city officials say the agreement that allows it to operate has expired.

What happens next is unclear. Acting City Manager Fran David said Thursday that her staff "is taking a look at options."

Tom Lemos, the owner of downtown's Hayward Patients Resource Center, was supposed to find a new home for the Foothill Boulevard pot club before the first of this year.

That was after city administrators and the Hayward City Council made clear that they no longer wanted any marijuana clinics operating in the downtown area. Officials have said they are banking on an upcoming cinema project transforming B Street into a more family-friendly entertainment district where pot clubs would no longer be an appropriate land use.

But in December, as the club's three-year agreement was set to expire, the council gave Lemos an extra three months to shut down and find a new place to operate somewhere else — anyplace but downtown.

When that extension approached its expiration date, and Lemos still hadn't settled on a new location, the council voted 5-2 on April 3 to allow Lemos another 90-day extension to operate.

Mayor Mike Sweeney, who voted with Councilman Bill Ward against the April extension, said he remains doubtful the owners can find a new place to operate that won't bother nearby residents.

"As I said in April, I'm veryskeptical that they'll be able to find a location where folks in the neighborhood won't object to the use," Sweeney said.

The last time Lemos proposed to relocate, it was to a house on northern Foothill Boulevard across from a Taco Bell restaurant. Once the plan became public, it caused a neighborhood outcry there, and Lemos was advised by city officials to drop it. This time, clinic operators won't say where or if they want to move.

Lemos did not return calls for comment this week.

"He's saying 'No comment' to The Daily Review," said Emily Andrade, the clinic's assistant manager. "That's what I'm supposed to say."


News Mod: CoZmO - 420Magazine.com
Source: InsideBayArea.com
Author: Matt O'Brien
Contact: mattobrien@dailyreviewonline.com
Copyright: 2007 ANG Newspapers
Website: Inside Bay Area - Future hazy for Hayward pot club