CITY TO CONSIDER ZONING REGULATIONS ON WHERE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAN GROW

CHICO -- Safety concerns over medical marijuana plants growing in
residential areas could result in zoning regulations on where in town
pot plants can grow.

Faced with concerns from a Chico woman two doors down from a home
growing medical marijuana, city councilors on the council's Internal
Affairs subcommittee directed staff to look into making changes in
the city's Municipal Code that could restrict growing to areas zoned
for light industrial use.

However, because the city's Planning Department is currently immersed
in the process of updating the city's General Plan, any zoning change
recommendations will come as time allows.

In the meantime, the Police Department and code enforcement staff
will put together a list of recommendations and guidelines for
medical marijuana growers on ways they can avoid annoying their
neighbors and stay safer from anyone seeking to steal the plants.

A mother of three in northwest Chico asked the council to consider a
public nuisance ordinance preventing those with medical pot
prescriptions from growing the plants outdoors. Such an ordinance is
currently in place in Gridley. Instead, those with medical marijuana
prescriptions would cultivate the plants indoors.

The mother said last summer the marijuana plants were so large they
could be seen from her family's backyard, and the smell was so
intense, it prevented them from enjoying their backyard until late fall.

But City Councilors Andy Holcombe, Tom Nickell and Scott Gruendl and
acting police chief Capt. Mike Maloney said moving the plants indoors
would swap one problem for another.

Holcombe said the lamps needed to grow the plants indoors could
increase the possibility of home invasions. Maloney said the police
don't want to do anything that will create an opportunity for violent
crime to increase.

"Exchanging one set of rules for a different set of rules could
potentially create a different set of issues," Maloney said.

The trio had considered the possibility of allowing marijuana
dispensaries in Chico, but Holcombe said guidelines already exist on
dispensaries and the council has no need to act.

Assistant City Manager John Rucker said there is no legal way for
someone to purchase marijuana from a dispensary unless they are
involved in cultivation. The dispensary has to be set up similar to a
private not-for-profit organization. Set-ups similar to a pharmacy
are illegal, he said.