CLEARLAKE >> After a calendar year filled with crackdowns on growing operations, public resistance, and an associated rise in violent crime, the Clearlake City Council finally approved a medical marijuana cultivation overhaul at its regular meeting on Thursday.
Since an ad hoc committee was formed in late August to address several failed attempts at regulation, the ordinance passed through the planning commission and two previous council readings, receiving input without any major changes since it was introduced in December
The council unanimously voted in favor of it.
“I think the art of compromise is when people are a little bit unhappy on both sides,” local resident Michael Green said, praising the city’s efforts in spite of possible shortcomings. “The spirit of the law is what matters here … if you go out there and enforce it in a fair manner; I think you’re going to get good results.”
Councilman Bruno Sabatier addressed one of those issues before the vote and it pertained to residences within 100 feet of the lake or within designated beautification zones. Under the new law, growing operations are not allowed in those areas.
Sabatier said he wanted future marijuana policy to consider possible exceptions for those citizens like permitted indoor operations in detached garages or other similar structures.
“It’s a very confusing thing to say, ‘we don’t want it here but we want it there,’ when its residential and the same zoning” he said. “I like what we’re doing but just something to look into of whether or not that is going to work for us.”
Just like his recommendation to modify the distances separating the grow site from the property lines, the councilman did not find a consensus with the council, especially with Councilwoman Joyce Overton. She argued that the state has granted the city prerogative over legal locations.
Furthermore, businesses and residents both have to already comply with other prohibitions in those zones, she added
Other issues, like commercial grows, will be addressed at a later time. According to Mayor Russ Perdock, the ad hoc committee may reconvene to tackle them.
The ordinance will be effective after 30 days.
