LAKEPORT — The Lake County Planning Commission Thursday voted unanimously to recommend to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) a proposed ordinance that would regulate medical marijuana cultivation in Lake County.
The ordinance, which the BOS could vote on as early as next month, states that a qualified patient or primary caregiver can cultivate a maximum of six mature plants or 12 immature plants in residential zoning districts. In residential districts, marijuana plants grown outdoors must be grown 15 feet away from the property line and screened from public view with a fence complete with a locking gate.
If the plants are grown indoors, the proposed ordinance specifies that the kitchen, bathrooms and master bedroom may not be used for growing marijuana and indoor lighting may not exceed 1,200 watts.
Several indoor growers told the commission they opposed the wattage restriction, claiming 1,200 watts would not be sufficient to raise 12 mature marijuana plants in a 100-square-foot area.
“1,200 isn”t enough to run my space heater,” Terri Larsen, from South Lake Bridge, said.
The restriction would not prevent cultivators from erecting non-residential sheds on their property and using more than 1,200 watts, according to Community Development Director Rick Coel, an author of the ordinance.
Qualified people wishing to grow up to 36 mature or 72 immature plants in a non-residential area must pay approximately $1,500 for a minor use permit and inspection, Coel said.
The commission modified the proposed ordinance to make a violation of the ordinance a misdemeanor rather than a less-severe code enforcement violation, a recommendation made by Lake County Sheriff Frank Rivero.
The change would allow law enforcement to take the plants in the event of an ordinance violation, Coel said.
Rivero, who spoke Thursday, also emphasized that the Lake County Sheriff”s Office should not collect fees from the ordinance, as it would represent a conflict of interest for the department, which enforces the ordinance.
Mendocino County”s marijuana cultivation program, one of several that Lake County”s is based off of, has allowed law enforcement there to collect more than $500,000 in licensing and permit fees, according to Mendocino County Sheriff”s Sgt. Randy Johnson.
“We”re not stopping the green monster,” Johnson told the commission Thursday. “We”re not doing much now except keeping it at bay and keeping the prices elevated.”
Johnson, who spoke to the commission before it voted on the proposed ordinance, described some positive results he”s seen because of Mendocino County”s 9.31 Cultivation Program, which allows police to work with and regulate the County”s marijuana growers.
Johnson said that earlier this year he received a call from a marijuana grower who gave him the whereabouts of a now-convicted suspect for a murder the police didn”t even know had been committed.
“He said over the phone, ?I”m calling you because I trust you,”” Johnson said, recalling the conversation with the grower.
The murder tip is an example of mutual trust that has developed between law enforcement and medical marijuana growers since the beginning of the program, Johnson said.
“In most cases, I think if I said, ?I don”t like the color of your house,” they”d look at me and say ?what color do you want me to paint it?”” Johnson said. “They want to be legal.”
