CLEARLAKE — The City Council is one step closer to passing its outdoor medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.
At the regular council meeting at Clearlake City Hall Thursday night, Councilwoman Gina Fortino Dickson moved to waive further reading and set a second reading for the Sept. 26 meeting with minor changes to some wording to make clarifications.
During the public hearing portion of the of the ordinance reading, Lower Lake lawyer Ron Green said there was confusion in section 3 of the proposed ordinance, calling it “fatally flawed.”
The section states: “Any outdoor cultivation within 600 feet of a child care center as measured from the property line of the cultivation site to the property line of the child care center is prohibited except for those child care centers that are appropriately licensed and in existence at the time of the effective date of this ordinance.”
What Green pointed out about the proposed language is that it could be interpreted in a way that if a patient up to 600 feet away had been cultivating pot and someone opens up a childcare center after the ordinance takes effect, the patient is in violation of the ordinance and must stop growing marijuana.
He suggested removing the entire section dealing with child care centers, which all council members support with the exception of Councilwoman Jeri Spittler. It didn”t happen, but the council did agree the wording could lead to confusion.
It was meant to be a grandfather clause to protect people currently growing pot near childcare centers, but the phrasing, council members said, did not properly reflect their intentions when they first asked for it to be put in the ordinance.
For a full account of the meeting, pick up Saturday”s edition of the Record-Bee.
Berenice Quirino is the assistant editor for Lake County Publishing. She can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 42 or at bereniceq@record-bee.com.
