Natura’s Sacramento campus has reopened its cannabis operation for now. Here’s what we know

A large cannabis manufacturing facility has been allowed to reopen by the city of Sacramento after a temporary resolution of safety issues.

City officials on Oct. 2 had ordered the closure of Natura, located on Elder Creek Roadnear Power Inn Road, citing fire code violations that make the Morrison Creek district buildings unsafe for its 450 employees.

On Oct. 9, the city decided to issue a new permit allowing the facility to reopen. It issued a temporary occupancy permit to Natura. It will will allow the facility to operate for two weeks while the company continues its plan to make safety improvements to the buildings, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.

Swanson said city officials had tested electrical equipment to ensure it is safe, but would not go into detail.

Natura officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The fire violations at the sprawling 11-acre facility with 22 buildings off Elder Creek Road date back two years. Natura had been operating a on a series of temporary operating certificates until the city decided not to extend the permits on Oct. 2.

The decision to close the facility prompted over 40 workers to come to the Oct 2. City Council meeting. Several were near tears as they begged for the council to overrule the building inspector’s decision so they could pay their rent and feed their families.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg urged CEO and co-founder Ori Bytton to urgently spend money for construction, citing a Wall Street Journal article that said Bytton had recently listed his Los Angeles home for $38 million.

“I don’t begrudge anybody’s wealth,” Steinberg said. “But I would suggest to you that you hire people to do double, triple, quadruple overtime to get this work done in collaboration with the building inspector and fire inspector and get these folks back to work as quickly as possible and/or pay you employees while this work gets done.”

The comment prompted Bytton to jump from his chair and shout from the audience, causing the council to adjourn the meeting early as dozens of employees filed out disappointed.

Lawsuit filed to keep Natura open

The company filed a suit against the city in Sacramento Superior Court on Oct. 5 claiming the city violated the company’s constitutional rights. It asks for a judge to order the city to let the business stay open.

The lawsuit said around 110,000 cannabis plants at the facility, worth more than $38 million, could be damaged or die if the facility is not allowed to operate.

Natura, which is the largest cannabis company in Sacramento, opened in August 2020 without final certificate of occupancy permits.

The city repeatedly extended the amount of time allowed to complete construction, taking the COVID-19 pandemic into account, according to Tom Pace, the city’s development director, who spoke before the city council on Oct 2.

He said the city’s interim chief building official, Bob Latz, in consultation with city Fire Marshal Jason Lee, made the decision to stop granting extensions.

Lee said fire suppression and protection equipment was missing in multiple buildings on the campus. He was not specific, but typically that equipment can include sprinkler systems.

Natura officials say the complex has a 200,000-square-foot facility to grow cannabis, as well as a processing, manufacturing and distribution center, and an “immersive showroom.” Natura manufactures its own cannabis brands and also serves as a contract manufacturer for other companies.