LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council voted Tuesday night to oppose Measure D, the marijuana cultivation initiative headed for the June 5 ballot.

The vote was 4-1, with Councilmember Suzanne Lyons – who said she hadn’t read the measure – voting no.

Kelseyville resident Rob Brown made a presentation to the council on behalf of the group Citizens to Protect Lake County-No on Measure D.

Brown, who represents District 5 on the Lake County Board of Supervisors, said he wasn’t there in his capacity as an elected official.

“I am a citizen that is concerned about a measure that could change much of what Lake County is, and what we enjoy right now,” he said.

If Measure D were to pass in the unincorporated county, Brown warned it could happen next in Lakeport.

“This isn’t about medical marijuana as much as it is about zoning by referendum,” he said.

He said the Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance to govern medical marijuana cultivation last Oct. 11. He said that ordinance would have prevented cultivation on residential lots of a half acre or less.

The initiative backers – Lake County Green Farmers and Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulation – gathered the 2,100 signatures needed for a referendum on the county ordinance, which the board later rescinded, Brown said.

He said only 255 signatures would be necessary to put an initiative like Measure D on the ballot in Lakeport.

Brown said Measure D claims it provides regulations where none were before, but he said that’s not true, pointing to the county ordinance that had been in place.

While ordinances can be amended by the governing body that passes them, ballot initiatives can only be changed by other ballot initiatives, said Brown.

Brown argued that 12 plants – the number that Measure D would allow to be grown on small residential lots – “is way more than any person would need.”

He estimated that 12 plants could produce an annual crop worth $72,000 at California prices. The top number of plants allowed on larger lots, 84, would have potential revenue of $504,000. If such a crop were taken to the East Coast, the price would be doubled, he said.

Brown asked the council to join a number of other groups that have joined in opposing Measure D, including the Lake County Deputy Sheriffs Association, Lake County Farm Bureau, Sierra Club, Kelseyville Business Association, Lake County Chamber of Commerce, and the Buckingham and Clear Lake Riviera homeowners associations.

He asked the council if they had any questions.

“Nope, you've got my vote,” said Councilman Roy Parmentier.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and Brown told the council that the federal government has shown great interest in Lake County recently due to the marijuana-related activities taking place here.

Within the last month, he said the Drug Enforcement Administration cross-deputized two Lake County Sheriff’s deputies.

“I suspect someday it will be legal federally,” he said, but for now, “I don't think Lake County should be the poster child for legalizing marijuana.”

He also reported that in the last few weeks it “has just gone nuts” relating to preparations for marijuana gardens, with fences going up and illegal grading taking place. He said people are coming from the Bay Area and Southern California to purchase land for cultivation in order to make a profit.

“It's not local residents looking out for their glaucoma,” he said.

Measure D also would use right-to-farm protections for commercial farming to protect marijuana grows. Brown said marijuana is not an agricultural product.

Don Merrill, representing the initiative’s proponents, said Measure D doesn’t allow anything that isn’t already legal, and it clearly defines when and where there is too much marijuana being grown.

He suggested that a marijuana cultivation advisory committee the Board of Supervisors had appointed on Tuesday – to which he was appointed – would be attempting to rewrite Measure D, and he raised concerns about fair political practices with regarding to the committee.

Brown got up “to interject a couple facts,” denying that the advisory committee was going to rewrite Measure D. He also said the board has to rescind its ordinance in response to the referendum, which Merrill denied.

Community member Brad Bastian said he’s frustrated about the lure of easy money connected to medical marijuana growing.

He said one of his neighbors had more than 100 plants. Thieves came through Bastian’s property to steal the plants.

“That’s the lure of easy money. It risks my family and that is wrong,” Bastian said.

Rumfelt moved that the council formally oppose Measure D, with Parmentier seconding, and the 4-1 vote following.

Brown said the Board of Supervisors will discuss opposing Measure D at its meeting next week.

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