POLL: Did the City Council Do the Right Thing in Banning Outdoor Pot Growing?
New medical marijuana ordinance is one of strictest in region.
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Want to grow medical marijuana in Elk Grove?
Not in our backyards, city council members said Wednesday.
The council on a 3-2 vote passed one of the strictest medical weed cultivation ordinances in Northern California, responding to neighbor complaints about smell and possible crime from pot gardens in the Sheldon area and elsewhere.
The new law restricts growing to inside houses and specially-constructed sheds, and requires users to pay for a permit from the city.
Some council members said they would prefer to ban marijuana growing outright, but had their hands tied by California's Compassionate Use Act, which permits it for patients with prescriptions and their caregivers.
"Elk Grove is a family-oriented community...If we're known as being tough on drugs, good," said Councilmember Gary Davis.
The new measure sets up an array of hurdles for medical marijuana patients that even some on the city's planning commission had criticized as almost impossible to overcome.
Permit-carrying patients can choose one of two options: grow inside their private residence, or inside an outbuilding in their yard.
Plants inside a house could not be placed in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, carpeted areas or places to which minors have access. Outbuildings, meanwhile, would need to be less than 120 square feet and outfitted with security, ventilation and filtration systems. Greenhouses could not be used.
The measure also prohibits growing within 1,000 feet of a school, child care center or park. A similar provision in Tehama County's medical marijuana ordinance provoked a lawsuit by medical marijuana advocates. The ordinance was recently upheld in court, but the group that filed the suit, California NORML, says it plans to appeal.
"There is no justification for disallowing patients to grow their own medicine in the privacy of their homes, no matter where they are located with respect to schools," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. "Elk Grove should brace itself for a lawsuit if it proceeds with its ill-advised plan."
The ordinance must be read once more at a council meeting before it is officially enacted, and would then take effect within 30 days.
Not everyone on the council took a hard line on marijuana use.
"I would be in support of full-blown legalization: tax it, regulate it," said Councilmember Patrick Hume. But Hume ultimately supported the measure, saying he sympathized with neighbor complaints.
Councilmembers Steve Detrick and Sophia Scherman voted no, Scherman saying she'd like an outright ban on pot grows and Detrick raising concerns about residents growing the green stuff inside their houses. The city already bans medical marijuana dispensaries.
Readers, what's your take?
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Councilmember Steve Detrick cast the lone no vote on the measure. In fact, both Detrick and Councilmember Sophia Scherman voted no.
Insania
1:37 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
How, exactly, would one grow indoors and make it inaccessible to those under 17, if not inside a locked bedroom or bathroom? A dining room that's cordoned off by a wall and doorway? A family room, where, somehow, members of the 'family' are banned from entering? Ridiculous.
What you'll find, most certainly, is a complete disregard by residents towards these regulations because clearly they are not intented to provide access to residents for growing their own. The actions by the council will only create clandestine growing. I will only be more tempted to ignore the council's initiatives, particularly as this is just the first step, and no matter what I do, I will still be subjected to further changes/restrictions/modifications to our council's arbitrary and capricious rules.
1,000 feet of a day care center? Talk about capricious. It could just as well be 1,123 feet, or 947 feet. What is that about? What possible differences are conveyed by 1,001 feet vs 999? Who's being harmed here? 3-year old boys? Is it plausible that a 4-year old girl will somehow escape her day care perimeter, waddle to a residential housal unit 954 feet away, scale the 6-foot high fence mandated by the council, breach the security perimeter installed on the outdoor shed as mandated by the council, and become subdued by the smell of flowering plants whose ventilation system was already approved by the fire commissioner every 2-years alongside their $650 mandatory "inspection fee?"
Insania
2:10 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I'll keep on going here. Using Google earth my housal unit lies 1,123.85 feet from the nearest park. And this is as the mockingbird flies; it may well be that a 1,000 foot crow-fly radius is used instead of 1,000 feet as a human walks. Although clearly 1,000 feet as the mockingbird flies is not how actual Elk Grovians navigate around their neighborhoods, or how 4-year-olds in day care facilities would find their way to a grow, we can be 100% certain that "radius" will be used by the council simply to restrict as many houses as possible -- because that is their intent.
I, somehow, fell into meeting every one of these requirements...at least, so long as the council doesn't arbitrarily change them going forward, (e.g., changing the radius to 1,125 feet). I don't imagine that these will be the only regulations. And I don't imagine that the costs associated with the biennial inspection by the city will be borne by the city, either. To the extent that one meets their regulations, I can't imagine anyone willingly submitting to an inspection. Will the ventilation system be required to be built from UL listed components? Suppose I use 49-oz per inch duct tape, but the city tells me I have to use premium grade 55+ oz per inch tape. Really? Will such things be spelled out in the law? No way. You will find that people will choose to grow clandestinely, completely subverting the council's intent. I'd bet the ratio will be 25-1, those who don't "register" to those who do.
Jay
11:48 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Clandestine is the clear option. Get a contractor to bring plumbing and electricity to that back bedroom, and convert it into a budroom. Use several charcoal filters to scrub the stank from the air. Keep your lawn mowed, be discreet, and be a good neighbor, like you are!
Marty
1:09 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
You've got it! The city gets involved and it's like running a red flag up in front of your house.
Jane Gassner
3:16 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
So, I'm curious. Who was the motivating force behind the Council's actions? I don't think you can actually blame the city if they're just responding to constituents. These folks are elected; they dance to the loudest drummer.
JJ Johnson
1:38 am on Sunday, February 12, 2012
Or the deepest pocket.
Occupy
12:54 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
So what happens if someone violates one of these ordanances? Is it even a law? Will egpd come and haul you away? Probably a fine . If u can't afford to abid by all the " guidelines" really will you pay a fine u can't can't afford? Put it on my tab.
Sincerely, scared to drive too many traffic cameras