APTOS >> Deputies on Monday seized about 1,900 marijuana plants from a Santa Cruz Mountains property that supplies Granny Purps, a medical marijuana dispensary on 41st Avenue in Soquel.

Deputies were responding to neighbors’ complaints about marijuana grows near the 5000 block of Fern Flat Road in Aptos, not far from the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, said Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Lt. Kelly Kent. Kent said he didn’t know specifically what the neighbors opposed, although noise, environmental degradation and high-powered lights at night have bothered residents elsewhere in the county.

During the 8:45 a.m. raid, deputies found about 2,000 plants, Kent said. By Santa Cruz County law, marijuana grows must have 99 plants or fewer, said Sheriff Jim Hart.

All but 99 plants were seized and will be destroyed, Kent said. Deputies spoke to people on the property on Monday, but no one was arrested or cited, Hart said. The case was forwarded to prosecutors at the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office for potential prosecution against the leaseholder.

The CEO of Granny Purps, J.D. Black, told the Sentinel in an interview Monday that he leases the land. The farm’s product supplies the dispensary at 2649 41st Ave.

“I was completely shocked and dismayed when I heard they were at our property,” Black said.

“I do everything I can to be in compliance with our dispensary and cultivation site, which provides more than 18,000 people with medication.”

This spring, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a county law that banned commercial marijuana grows and limited cultivation to 100-square-feet per parcel, which is the largest allowed in the state. However, leaders of a county ballot initiative recently collected more than about 7,250 verified signatures to repeal the law.

The signatures’ verification means the law has reverted to an earlier county law that limits grows to 99 plants, Hart said.

That’s the law on which deputies were operating on Monday, Hart said.

Ben Rice, Black’s Santa Cruz-based attorney, said Black and other dispensary leaders recently met with sheriff’s deputies on the department’s new marijuana compliance team to make sure they were following the law.

“I just think it’s really unfortunate that we’re this close to getting recreational cannabis passed in this state and we’re still doing this,” said Rice.

Neighbors near Fern Flat Road in Aptos have complained about all the grows in that area, not just Black’s, Black said. Black said his workers operate every day, but only during business hours.

He said he doesn’t want to buy marijuana from smaller grows to supply his dispensary, as the county law would have it.

“I can’t give them (customers) a good affordable price when I have to rely on other grows. And I know my medicine is safe,” said Black.

He noted that deputies acted professionally during the raid, though he said a compliance check from the County Planning Department would have been more appropriate.

“It’s insanity to be told we could do this legally and now risk prosecution,” said Black.