UKIAH >> The Ukiah City Council voted last week to keep marijuana cultivation not only strictly indoors, but only within certain areas of a home.
“You can grow in your residence, but not in those areas that are habitable: kitchen, bathrooms or bedrooms,” said City Manager Sage Sangiacomo, explaining that there were two main reasons for adding those provisions to the city’s marijuana cultivation ordinance.
“It protects the housing stock if you can’t use kitchens and bedrooms and bathrooms,” said Sangiacomo, referring to the fact that if people cannot grow marijuana in an accessory dwelling unit or spare bedroom, they hopefully will leave those spaces open for people to rent or otherwise live in.
“Another big one for me was when the (Assistant Superintendent of the Ukiah Unified School District) spoke of students coming to school smelling of marijuana,” he said. “So the idea is separating it from the habitable areas.”
Council member Jim Brown said the additional rules were also designed to “mitigate the dangers of growing pot indoors.”
Assistant City Attorney Darcy Vaughn said the revised ordinance also mandates that residents growing indoors have proper odor filtration and ventilation as well as a waterproof membrane under their equipment, do not discharge the waste products of cultivation or processing into the city’s sewer system and do not use any gas products.
“So if they can’t flush it down the toilet or put it on the ground, what can they do with (the waste products)?” asked Council member Steve Scalmanini.
“They need to dispose of it properly like paint thinner or (other hazardous waste materials),” said Vice-Mayor Maureen Mulheren.
“The whole thing is a bit intrusive,” said Scalmanini. “And how do we enforce things like a waterproof membrane on the floor?”
“Enforcement is a separate issue,” City Attorney David Rapport said. “To do that you have to have access to the house and conduct an inspection, but there’s no inspection requirement in the ordinance. It’s a standard that people are supposed to follow.”
“It’s like any other building code, it does require a level of honesty,” Sangiacomo said. “We’re saying that if you’re going to do cultivation within the city limits, here how it needs to be done.”
The revised ordinance states that only six mature marijuana plants and 12 immature plants can be grown strictly indoors, and defines an “immature” marijuana plant as one that is no more than 12 inches tall and not more than 12 inches wide.
The City Council voted unanimously to introduce the ordinance Dec. 6, and will likely vote on its adoption at its next meeting Dec. 20.
