City targets collective code enforcement

When the owner of The Green Heart, Anderson’s only medical marijuana collective, declined to voluntarily comply with a city zoning ordinance banning such activity, city officials stepped up their code enforcement efforts to force the collective’s closure.

“Our Building Inspector, Marty Mofield, has issued two administrative citations and our Code Enforcement Officer Steve Ayers went back yesterday to cite the owners again,” said Kristen Maze, director of Anderson’s Development Services Department, in a telephone interview Wednesday, Dec. 14.

Under the city’s recently enhanced code enforcement regulations, a first citation carries a possible fine of $50, a second citation for the same violation can cost the recipient $100 and a third or any subsequent citation for the same violation carries a fine of $250.

“Each time we cite the collective, we cite the owner, the property owner and the collective’s on-site manager,” Maze said.

Administrative citations are billed in the same manner that the city bills for water or wastewater services, she said.

Gina Munday has owned and operated The Green Heart, A Compassionate Collective, since it opened at 10 a.m. July 19, 2009, two days before the Anderson City Council adopted a moratorium on just such a business endeavor.

The temporary moratorium was extended until a zoning ordinance prohibiting such activities within city limits took effect Nov. 3.

The Green Heart received its first citation along with a 10-day order to “cease and desist” dispensing medical marijuana no later than Tuesday, Dec. 14.

Several phone calls seeking a comment from Munday were made by the Valley Post last week and Monday, Dec. 19, but the calls were neither answered nor returned.