LAKEPORT, Calif. – Close to 200 people were on hand for a Tuesday evening meeting during which the Board of Supervisors took community input on a new proposed medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.
The three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting was held at night and in the larger space of Fritch Hall at the Lake County Fairgrounds – rather than the board chambers – in order to give more people the opportunity to attend.
The county last summer passed an interim cultivation ordinance that attached plant numbers to parcel size, banned cultivation on vacant lots, and placed no limits on indoor cultivation.
The new proposed ordinance goes much further, banning outdoor cultivation in community growth boundaries and limiting indoor cultivation to 100 square feet with indoor lighting not to exceed 1,200 watts. Outside of community growth boundaries, plant numbers are capped at six mature or 12 immature plants on parcels larger than one acre.
Following a brief presentation by Community Development Director Rick Coel, the board took roughly three hours of testimony from residents who spoke on different angles of the issue.
Just after 9 p.m., the board decided to close the public hearing and continue deliberations until its next regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 11 a.m.
Coel's presentation included slides of environmental issues resulting from illegal grows, from terracing and the use of plastic swimming pools to tons of fertilizer and various chemicals being used near the lake. “This is all running into our watershed,” he said.
He also attributed an increase in crime – particularly home invasion robberies – to marijuana cultivation, along with complaints relating to loss of property value and real estate transactions that have fallen through, homes that have been damaged by indoor grows and grows on vacant parcels, nuisance odors and respiratory issues for neighbors.
“We have an ordinance on the books that is very difficult to enforce,” Coel said, with “very significant numbers” of people choosing to ignore it.
With Coel arguing that stronger regulation is needed, the proposed ordinance would allow for abatement by sheriff's officials within five days or, in some cases, immediate summary abatement, rather than the current 30- to 40-day process that the county must follow.
He pointed out that the ordinance had the support of the county's three main subdivisions – Hidden Valley Lake, the Clear Lake Riviera and Buckingham – as well as the Lake County Farm Bureau, County Administrative Office, the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
During public comment, approximately 48 people gave testimony, several of them returning to the microphone more than once.
A large number opposed the ordinance, while several supported it, with a small number saying it didn't go far enough. Still others spoke more generally about needing guidelines in order to protect neighbors and keep it away from schools, or brought up their own use of the drug for medical issues.
Arguments against the ordinance included allegations that the county was engaging in class warfare against the poor while putting more wealth in hands of corporations, and that it would cut off a major economic engine. More than a few of the opponents told the supervisors they could expect legal action if the ordinance was passed.
Small growers said they would have to sell their properties and leave the county because the ordinance would, in effect, make them criminals.
Some who supported it said the ordinance was needed to protect community members and the county's overall image, which was the argument of Tom Guthrie, co-leader of Lake County Neighbors Against Commercial Marijuana Growing.
“The ordinance does exactly what it should,” he said.
Adelia Leonard of Clearlake Park, a mother of six, said she has never smoked marijuana but she began using an oil made from it to help her young son's autism and epilepsy.
She agreed that some growers aren't following the rules. “They're making us look really bad.”
When the board pointed out to her that she lives within the city of Clearlake and so wouldn't be impacted, Leonard said she was concerned that the city – which recently implemented an ordinance that is similar the county's interim document – eventually would adopt rules identical to the new proposal.
Lower Lake attorney Ron Green said the ordinance is “extremely unfair” and was drafted without input from the cannabis community.
He suggested putting the current temporary ordinance in place for a longer period of time and appointing a committee to work on new guidelines. Green said the county should work with the cannabis community or else face a referendum and litigation.
Herb Gura brought up California Environmental Quality Act requirements.
Due to the environmental impacts Gura said the proposed ordinance would have, he said it needed more study. If the county won't do an environmental impact report, it needed to do a mitigated negative declaration and an initial study.
“I think you need to do an initial study, otherwise you're out of compliance with CEQA,” Gura said.
When asked by the board about the CEQA issues, County Counsel Anita Grant said Coel had determined there were CEQA exemptions for the document.
Capt. Chris Macedo of the Lake County Sheriff's Office read a letter on behalf of Sheriff Frank Rivero, offering support of the ordinance.
Rivero's letter said it was crucial to find a middle ground on the marijuana issue, with Lake County being at a crossroads with the possibility that its reputation could be impacted for decades to come.
While the ordinance is not perfect, Rivero's letter said he believes it offers the necessary middle ground, and suggested the board pass it and also pursue the Lake County Planning Commission's recommendation to once again allow dispensaries.
Bob Dutcher of Kelseyville, a Realtor who served on the county's marijuana cultivation advisory board, said he'd had misgivings about allowing grows in residential areas due to smell, and after a test run, “I just don't think it's working well,” with such grows making it hard for people who want to sell their property to get away from it.
However, Dutcher said he felt the proposed ordinance was too restrictive and would force more people toward the black market.
He also suggested that a map that Coel showed of more than 500 ag-zoned properties 20 acres in size or larger – where larger grows could take place – was misleading, and that many of them were held by large winegrape owners that would not allow marijuana grows on their land.
Dan Rush, director of the Cannabis Workers Rising of North America Campaign, part of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and also an Emerald Unity Coalition leader, said he was there to offer a white flag and call a truce.
He suggested that the rights of everyone – patients, homeowners, parents and business owners – needed to be considered. “Let's get together. Let's talk about an ordinance that serves everybody.”
Peter DeLong of Cobb, a multifaith minister and educator, said he had been contacted by elderly members of different churches who are concerned about their ability to grow the plant if the ordinance passes.
DeLong suggested the work on the ordinance had largely been done in secret, which galvanized the response.
He also suggested keeping the interim ordinance in place and putting increased emphasis on enforcement of the rules the county already has in place. “It might take patience and time but I think we'll come to a good middle ground.”
Deputy County Administrative Officer Alan Flora read from a memo that he and County Administrative Officer Matt Perry wrote to the board in support of the ordinance.
He explained that the expansion of the marijuana industry “has seriously and negatively impacted the quality of life within our communities and the county of Lake's ability to provide essential public services.”
Flora said the county has struggled to establish a brand as a tourist destination and attract businesses, and local businesspeople have told county staff in confidence of their concerns about retaliation if they speak out.
“Land use controls, such as the ordinance before your board, are a part of the fundamental right of local government’s use of police power for protection of the public's health, safety and general welfare,” Flora read from the memo. “Staff cannot think of a more significant current need for that protection than enhanced regulation of the marijuana industry in Lake County.”
Attorney Peter Windrem of Kelseyville said a commercial marijuana operation recently moved into his rural neighborhood, changing the character overnight and making all of the neighbors anxious.
While it's being cast as if the ordinance is a war on people who need marijuana, Windrem said he suspected most of the actual medical marijuana users in the county could be supplied by a tiny fraction of the growers.
Phil Murphy of Finley told the board that passing the ordinance would result in a “disaster.”
He recalled having warned the board against closing down the county's dispensaries because issues with backyard grows and crime would increase.
Murphy said marijuana growing needed to be based on agricultural land, but he said the proposed ordinance attempts to hold marijuana growers to higher rules and so could result in litigation over unfair business practices.
He wanted the board to resurrect the advisory committee, which had been disbanded after one of its members, Don Merrill, sued the county. Murphy said the county left the stakeholders out of the process until the Tuesday night meeting.
“That's not the way you do it. You bring them in at the beginning,” he said.
By the time Murphy was done speaking, it was just before 9 p.m. When the board reconvened after a short break, Supervisor Rob Brown said there was no rush to make a decision, and suggested it come back for further discussion next week.
The rest of the board agreed, with Smith setting the board's deliberations to commence at 11 a.m. at the Dec. 17 meeting.
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