Palm Springs cannabis business owner allowed to resume business activities, city expected to revoke license again
Palm Springs has withdrawn a letter revoking the business license of a cannabis business owner who the city accused of running an illegal grow operation.
Last month, we reported that the city revoked all three of Joy Brown Meredith's cannabis business licenses amid allegations that she was illegally cultivating in a space she was not licensed to.
Meredith is the owner of Crystal Fantasy, which opened in downtown Palm Springs in 1987, and most recently, the owner of the Joy of Life Wellness Center, a cannabis dispensary. Meredith's permitted cannabis grow location is in an industrial unit on W. San Rafael Dr. in North Palm Springs.
In October, Palm Springs City Attorney Jeffrey Ballinger wrote a letter alleging that inspectors found evidence of illegal cannabis cultivation in a space where she was not licensed. Code enforcement officers said video surveillance footage showed hundreds of cannabis plants at a unit that Meredith was not licensed to operate in.
Meredith denied the accusations, speaking exclusively with News Channel 3's Jake Ingrassia.
The decision has since been reversed.
Last week, the city withdrew its revocation notice, allowing Meredith to resume activities at her cannabis businesses.
The decision came after Polina Ross, Meredith's attorney, told city officials that the notice did not adequately describe the full scope of the violations, specifically which unit the violation occurred at.
"While the City does not agree with Ms. Ross that the Revocation Letter did not provide Joy Industries, Inc. notice of all of the violations occurring at 370 W. San Rafael, Palm Springs, California 92262, in order to avoid any of the issues raised by Ms. Ross, the City is withdrawing the Revocation Letter," reads a letter by Pat Donegan, the City’s prosecuting deputy city attorney.
Ballinger said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution.
Ballinger added that he expects Donegan and Veronica Goedhart, the director of the city's Department of Special Program Compliance, to deliver another revocation letter, most likely sometime this week.
"I think it is fair to say that the prosecuting deputy city attorney and Ms. Goedhart continue to believe that violations did indeed occur at the property and that they were of a serious nature," Ballinger writes.
Meanwhile, Joy Meredith issued a statement on the withdrawal of the revocation notice and the possibility of another notice coming soon:
"Joy of Life Wellness reopened this weekend after the city reversed the revocation of our licenses due to procedural and other errors in the revocation order. The revocation was based on erroneous information that forced us to be closed down for almost 2 months. Now the city staff are saying that we may have another revocation coming up. That's a lot for my family to have hanging over our heads. The financial and emotional stress almost broke me but the support of our community keeps us going."
An appeal hearing for the original revocation was set to take place at this week's city council meeting, however, Ballinger said that will no longer happen.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing coverage.
