JCCrandall v. County of Santa Barbara

Filed 10/29/24 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

JCCRANDALL, LLC, 2d Civ. No. B333201 (Super. Ct. No. 21CV04273) Plaintiff and Appellant, (Santa Barbara County)

v.

COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA,

Defendant and Respondent.

Many Californians have high expectations that cannabis is legal in California. This is a reasonable assumption because Civil Code section 1550.5 says it is. We regret to inform that cannabis is illegal in California because federal law says so. Here we consider cannabis as it applies to easements. The county grants a conditional use permit (CUP) for the cultivation of cannabis. To issue a CUP, the county’s land use code requires a finding that the streets and highways are adequate for the proposed use. A private easement over a neighbor’s land is the only access to the land subject to the CUP. The owner of the servient tenement objects to the use of his land

to transport cannabis. The servient owner petitions for a writ of administrative mandate challenging the county’s grant of the CUP. The trial court denies the petition. We reverse because under federal law cannabis is illegal in California and everywhere else in the United States. The servient tenant’s objection on this ground is sufficient to defeat the CUP. That the possession and cultivation of cannabis has the imprimatur of legality in California is beside the point.1 FACTS Santa Rita Holdings, Inc. (Santa Rita) applied to the County of Santa Barbara (County) for a CUP to cultivate cannabis. The cultivation would occur on 2.54 acres owned by Kim Hughes, as trustee of the Hughes Land Holding Trust (Hughes). Hughes consented to the cannabis cultivation. The cultivation project (Project) site is zoned for agriculture. Under the County’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC), a CUP is necessary for cannabis cultivation. The issuance of a CUP requires that the County find streets and highways are adequate for the proposed use. An easement for ingress and egress across land owned by JCCrandall, LLC (JCCrandall) serves the Hughes parcel. The easement is the only access to the Hughes parcel. The easement was created by deed in 1998. The easement is approximately one-half mile long. The road that runs over the easement is unpaved and approximately 12 feet wide. The County’s fire department and public works department determined that the road was adequate to serve the Project.