Nature of Proceedings: Petition for Writ of Mandate CASE: NHC Orcutt 405, LLC v. County of Santa Barbara, . Case No: 21CV00979 (Judge Sterne) HEARING DATE: July 23, 2021 MATTER: Petition for Writ of Mandate ATTORNEYS: Randall Fox for Petitioner NHC Orcutt 405, LLC Barbara A. Carroll, Deputy County Counsel, for Respondent County of Santa Barbara TENTATIVE RULING: The petition for writ of mandate of NHC Orcutt 405, LLC is denied. The stay order of March 12, 2021 is vacated. BACKGROUND: Petitioner NHC Orcutt 405, LLC (“NHC” or “petitioner”) is a California limited liability company and a medical and adult-use cannabis retailer. Respondent is the County of Santa Barbara (“County” or “respondent”). On November 9, 2020, NHC submitted an application to County for a license to operate a storefront retail cannabis business in the community of Orcutt. County denied NHC’s application because it did not receive a sufficient score on its application submittals to advance to the next level of the re