A former professional basketball player who played two seasons for the Iranian Basketball Super League, Jonas Lalehzadeh, 37, is running unopposed for the District 1 seat on the King City City Council.
After playing professional basketball, Lalehzadeh says he wanted to start anew and moved to King City in 2021 where he found and bought properties with a cannabis cultivation business in mind.
Lalehzadeh is now suing King City after City Manager José Arreola, acting as an administrative hearing officer, revoked a permit for a Type 3B medium indoor, mixed-light cannabis cultivation permit at 150 Don Bates Way, where Lalehzadeh is the managing member of DB A Growth LLC.
Lalehzadeh, representing himself, filed a lawsuit on July 27 in Monterey County Superior Court. A judge agreed to a stay, meaning the cannabis plants will not be removed until there is a decision in the case. Recent filings show the parties are in settlement talks, and are set to return to court on Sept. 29.
The issue traces back to January 2024, when King City Police issued administrative citations over cultivation activity at 150 Don Bates Way before a city permit was in place. Those citations were resolved in March 2024 through a mutual release: The City waived $150,000 in penalties, while Lalehzadeh paid $6,000 and waived any claims of damages arising from that period.
Lalehzadeh’s petition states that the City proceeded to accept $10,500 in permit fees and continued to invoice and collect quarterly cultivation taxes, about $27,000 per quarter.
The City’s formal revocation effort began with a May 19, 2026 notice, citing an April 16 revocation by state regulators of a distributor license held by DB A Distribution LLC, a separate entity with no King City permit. An amended notice issued by the City May 27 added new allegations that Lalehzadeh had shipped cannabis through a private carrier and violated state and federal drug laws.
“There was a violation of trafficking and distribution. That was one of the key findings. Mr. Lalehzadeh does not have a transportation license for cannabis in King City or with the state,” Arreola says. “There was evidence that cannabis had been transported by his company, and that is not allowed.”
At the June 2 administrative hearing, Lalehzadeh invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions about entities other than DB A Growth LLC. In court papers, he insists that at no time did he admit to operating any business in King City without a license.
Lalehzadeh is now asking the court to reinstate DB A Growth’s cultivation permit and protect an $11.7 million purchase agreement for the company that he says depends on the licenses remaining in good standing. (Lalehzadeh declined to comment for this story.)
From the City’s perspective, Arreola says, “I feel our finding of facts and decision is pretty solid. I’d be very surprised if a judge were to say differently. We’re doing our best to understand where Mr. Lalehzadeh is at, but also make sure that he’s following the rules.”
The 150 Don Bates Way property, which County Assessor records show Lalehzadeh’s partner purchased for $3.5 million in 2021, has been posted for sale online with an asking price of $18 million. A real estate listing describes it as a “power-ready data center campus” opportunity with 55,000 square feet of space across five buildings.
“The campus is fully secured and gated, and the property will be delivered 100-percent vacant at the close of escrow,” according to the listing, which also notes 8.31 megawatts of power already onsite. “The property provides a compelling platform for operators seeking deployable compute capacity in Northern California without the constraints of the Silicon Valley power grid.”
A data center is not yet a permitted use of the site. “I mean, he’s not wrong. I guess it is an opportunity, but that type of use would certainly come to the Planning Commission and the Council before it was approved,” Arreola says. “My guess is it would be met with quite a bit of scrutiny.”