LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors plan to further discuss the proposed marijuana ordinance and the corresponding tax measure at its regular meeting today.
Nothing has changed since the two pieces of legislation were introduced in the last two months, but according to Community Development Director Bob Massarelli there is plenty of input to consider, especially from the planning commission’s July 14 meeting on the cultivation ordinance.
“The planning commission has looked at this and we are looking to the Board of Supervisors to tell us how they want us to proceed,” Massarelli said. He also wants to keep the discussion big picture, just like the last public hearing.
He did not release any additional information on the context or the implications of today’s meeting. For the most part, his department is awaiting the board’s direction.
Meanwhile, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington said the public may see further conversation on the zoning aspects of the drafted ordinance.
Currently, the proposed amendments to Measure N (also known as Article 72) would place commercial growing outside of the community growth boundary outlined in the county’s general plan and keep it strictly to 10-or-more-acre lands zoned as agriculture or agricultural preserve.
Due to the public opposition, the board, Massarelli and the Medical Marijuana Ad Hoc Committee are looking into the possibility of overlay zones — or properties adjacent to designated areas that meet certain criteria like distance from schools, water rights etc.
As for the tax measure, which would go before the voters in the November election, Farrington wants to make sure it’s fair.
“The tax is important to regulate an industry that has been mostly unrelated in Lake County,” he said.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Lake County Courthouse. Both items are timed: the cultivation discussion is scheduled to be first at 9:30 a.m. with the tax measure planned after it.
