Taft v. Vargas CA4/2

I. FACTS

The City’s municipal code generally bans “commercial cannabis activity.” (City

of Jurupa Valley Municipal Code (MC), § 11.28.010 et seq.) In November 2018,

however, voters in the City approved an initiative (Measure L) that added to the

municipal code a new Chapter 11.45, which created exemptions from the ban and thereby

allowed some cannabis related businesses. As relevant here, Measure L allows for a

limited number of exemptions for retail cannabis dispensaries to be issued—one per

1 We obtain the facts in part from the trial court’s order granting declaratory relief to the petitioners, which cites to an administrative record created as to Measure L. That administrative record does not appear in our record on appeal; appellants’ counsel explains in briefing that he failed in his attempts to obtain a copy. However, for purposes of this appeal, appellants state that they are accepting the facts as described by the trial court.

2 15,000 residents of the City; with the City’s current population, there could be a

maximum of seven such exemptions. (MC § 11.45.030(5).)

Applications for exemptions under Measure L are divided into two categories: (1)

priority (MC §…