The Board of Supervisors is considering an unfair economy-killing cannabis cultivation ordinance on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Fritch Hall at the Fairgrounds in Lakeport.
I urge interested people to attend.
This ordinance is far more restrictive than the current ordinance, and would prevent most medical marijuana patients from growing their own medicine outdoors in the sun. In essence, this ill-advised ordinance, written with no input from the stakeholders, is essentially a total ban on cannabis cultivation in Lake County. It punishes everybody for the sins of the few.
If passed, it would devastate our local economy and destroy the tax base. Many businesses will shut their doors. The cannabis industry is a huge part of our local economy, and experts estimate that close to half of Lake County”s population is involved in some way in the production of cannabis, including seasonal workers and the many businesses that sell cultivation materials.
The cannabis dollar in Lake County gets spent over and over ? the economic multiplier effect.
The ordinance, by banning most outdoor cultivation, will greatly increase indoor growing, which requires large amounts of electricity, and will increase the carbon footprint and lead to damage to homes. It will also increase cultivation on public lands, and cause a concentration of large grows on Ag land surrounding Kelseyville.
These are the main provisions:
1. No outdoor cultivation allowed on parcels one acre or smaller.
2. No outdoor cultivation in any Community Growth Boundary. This is all the towns in the county and a large area surrounding each town.
3. On residential parcels larger than one acre (even on 100 acres or more), only six plants are allowed to be grown outdoors, regardless of how many medical marijuana patients reside on the property. Collectives are not allowed.
4. Only collectives and cooperatives are allowed to grow more than 6 plants, but only on parcels 20 acres or more zoned as Ag land. Members of collectives must all be residents of Lake County. Many cannabis farmers have collectives that include people in the cities who cannot grow outdoors. Others belong to out of county dispensing collectives and are designated growers for the dispensaries.
5. Outdoor grows must be completely screened from public view with a solid fence 6 to 8 feet with locked gates. This provision is silly if you have five or 50 or 200 acres and nobody can see the garden even without a fence around it.
6. Setbacks are substantial and will act as a ban for many people, especially on smaller parcels.
7. Renters cannot grow without notarized written permission from the landlord.
8. Indoor grows may not exceed 100 square feet and can use no more than 1,200 watts.
9. No cultivation is allowed on vacant parcels even if a contiguous occupied parcel is owned by the same person.
10. Greenhouses would be considered as outdoors not indoors as they are now.
11. No outdoor cultivation within 1,000 feet of a school, park, church, child care facility, rehab facility, or youth-oriented facility.
12. Cultivating more than the allowed number of plants is a criminal offense despite its legality under state law ? a misdemeanor with a $1000 fine and/or 6 months in jail.
15. It contains a provision for Summary Abatement in five days.
Please attend the hearing. Also, contact the members of the Board of Supervisors by phone or email and make your views known.
The proposed ordinance is at: http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Public+Information+Releases/112713.pdf.
Ron Green, Attorney-at-law
Lower Lake
