The Sacramento City Council meeting descends into chaos after the closure of an 11-acre pot farm

A large cannabis operation with 22 buildings on more than 11 acres is forced to temporarily suspend operations as hundreds of employees fight for their jobs, culminating in a chaotic Sacramento City Council meeting.

Police officials ordered Natura to close a farm on Elder Creek Road near Power Inn Road on Oct. 2, citing fire code violations that made the Morrison Creek district’s buildings unsafe for its 450 employees.

Nautra must now work with the city to bring the 22 buildings on the 11.5-acre site up to code.

The decision to close resulted in about 40 employees attending a Sacramento City Council meeting the next day to fight for their jobs. The Sacramento Bee reports that the City Council meeting “descended into chaos.”

“I believe my business is being unfairly targeted,” Michael Hicks, an employee, told the City Council on Tuesday. “My job and those of hundreds of others are currently in danger.”

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called on Natura CEO and co-founder Ori Bytton to urgently spend money on construction. The mayor got personal, pointing out that, according to a Wall Street Journal article, Bytton recently listed his home for $35 million and believes he should be able to cover the costs.

“I don’t begrudge anyone their wealth,” Steinberg said. “But I would suggest that you hire people to work double, triple, quadruple overtime to do this work in conjunction with the building inspector and the fire inspector and get those people back to work as quickly as possible and/or Pay your employees” while this work is being done.

However, that comment caused Bytton to jump out of his seat and raise his voice, causing the council to adjourn the meeting early and dozens of plant employees to leave the room. “You may be asked to leave,” an officer told Bytton as he spoke. KCRA 3 posted a video of the disruption at City Council.

A temporary closure could lead to the plant’s permanent closure, said Craig Powell, the company’s co-founder and its senior vice president. “There are tens of millions of dollars worth of plants and products that will rot and deteriorate, leading to the demise of our company,” Powell said.

The case was taken over by Judge Christopher J. Kruger and then transferred to Judge Richard K. Sueyoshi at Natura’s request. The city is currently reviewing the details of the lawsuit, city spokesman Tim Swanson told The Bee.

Shouts of “Go home, Nazis!” could be heard from those attending the meeting. Some crowds can be seen in the video, but they didn’t escalate much further. However, according to Sacramento police, no one was injured and no one was arrested.

Tom Pace, the city’s development director, who addressed the council, said Natura has extended compliance deadlines since the COVID pandemic.

The city’s interim construction manager, Bob Latz, and city firefighter Jason Lee made the decision not to grant any more extensions, Pace said. The compliance deficiencies reportedly include a lack of firefighting and protective equipment in several buildings on campus. These usually involve things like sprinkler systems.

A lawsuit ensues

On Thursday, the company sued the city in Sacramento Superior Court, saying the city violated the company’s constitutional rights. The lawsuit asks that a judge order the city to keep the business open.

“The loss of their jobs as a result of the city’s egregious misconduct will have devastating consequences for these Natura employees, potentially leaving many of them homeless in a city that already has a significant homelessness problem.”

In 2021, workers associated with the company filed an independent lawsuit. According to liens filed with the Sacramento County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, several contractors said they were awaiting payment from a Nautra campus for which they each provided services.

Sacramento is ground zero for cannabis business representation

As the capital of California, heated meetings are not uncommon.

A group of licensed cannabis business owners gathered on the steps of California’s capitol in June 2022 to draw attention to the impact of high cannabis taxes on independent business owners. The demonstration, held in response to the state budget proposal released by Gov. Gavin Newsom, was organized by Supernova Women, an Oakland nonprofit that works to create opportunities for Black and brown people in the cannabis industry.

The rally featured more than fifty cannabis business owners, patients, and policymakers who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) and gathered to demand several changes to state cannabis regulations, including the elimination of the licensed cannabis excise tax social justice companies.