In response to the Nov. 8 Daily Cal newspaper article regarding the eviction notice of the 40 Acres Medical Marijuana Growers’ Collective, I would like to take the time to clarify a few things.
First and foremost, the FJSC Soe Group is currently attempting to evict Chris Smith and 40 Acres. We think this action is illegal, and the eviction is currently under appeal.
We maintain that some units at 1828 San Pablo Ave. have been registered with the city of Berkeley as residential units. In order to evict a tenant from a residential rent-controlled unit, the owner must show good cause for such eviction to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. Chris Smith has lived in the San Pablo property for a number of years.
There would be no way for the FJSC Soe group to evict Chris Smith and 40 Acres MMGC from a residentially-controlled unit unless the eviction was supported by the Good Cause Ordinance. Also, the Good Cause Ordinance does not allow the eviction of a tenant if the owner wishes to sell the property. The prospective purchaser has been in contact with the FJSC Soe Group to buy the building. The owners are in contract to sell the building.
On Jan. 25, City of Berkeley Code Enforcement Supervisor Gregory Daniels, Code Enforcement Officer Gerald Love and Assistant Planner Nathan Dahl performed an inspection of the premises, and found that the second floor of the building has 11 unlawful units and the building that is a commercial building with no residential units. The property also had violations relating to being a public nuisance, unpermitted construction of partition walls, unpermitted visible electrical wiring and unpermitted bathrooms and toilets aimed at Forty Acres for violating the current zoning ordinance. However, since 40 Acres existed prior to the Nov. 2010 amendments to the Berkeley Municipal Code, it was, and is currently, eligible to be recognized as a nonconforming use.
These remedies to correct the violation were offered to the Soes in a letter from the city dated Jan. 26.
Remedies A. Upon a finding of nuisance pursuant to this section, the Board or Council may impose any remedy available at law or in equity which shall include, but is not limited to, any of the following or combination thereof: enjoining the use in whole or in part; imposing reasonable conditions upon any continued operation of the use, including those uses which constitute existing nonconforming uses; requiring continued compliance with any conditions so imposed; requiring file user to guarantee that such conditions shall in all respects be complied with; and, upon a failure of the user to comply with any conditions so imposed, imposing additional conditions or enjoining the use in whole or in part.
The city threatened the property owners with a $500-a-day fine if they did not legalize the units by Feb. 15. There has been no fine imposed upon the FJSC Soe Group that we know of. After failing to evict Chris Smith and 40 Acres through the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, the FJSC Soe group filed eviction notices with the Alameda County Superior Court claiming all units at 1828 San Pablo Ave. to be commercial units and has since continued to attempt to evict Chris Smith.
The Soes were offered many options on how to rectify their violations with the city, however none of them actually consisted of evicting any tenants from their homes. We believe they chose this route clearly in an effort to sell the property. Again, Chris Smith, the 40 Acres and other tenants are simply victims of what we believe is an attempted illegal eviction. The current eviction is under appeal. We appreciate your support.
Chris Smith is the co-founder of 40 Acres Medical Marijuana Growers’ Collective.
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You potheads are amusing.