Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego

Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. (UMMP), appeals from the trial court’s judgment denying its petition for writ of mandate, which challenged the City of San Diego’s (the City) enactment of an ordinance adopting regulations for the establishment and location of medical marijuana consumer cooperatives in the City. UMMP contends that the City did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) when enacting the ordinance. As we will explain, we conclude that the ordinance did not constitute a project within the meaning of CEQA, and accordingly the City was not required to conduct an environmental analysis prior to enacting the ordinance. We therefore affirm the judgment.

I.

LACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The City’s Adoption of Ordinance No. 0-20356

For several years, state law has contained provisions concerning the use and cultivation of medical marijuana. Specifically, “the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (. . . Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, added by initiative, Prop. 215, as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996)) and the more recent Medical Marijuana Program (. . . [Health & Saf. Code,] §…