MARIJUANA CULTIVATION RULES ENDORSED IN REDDING

Redding inched closer Tuesday to enacting comprehensive regulations
on medical marijuana cultivation and cannabis club locations when the
Planning Commission voted to endorse new zoning.

The commission's vote is merely a recommendation to the City Council,
which must ultimately approve the zoning.

The city would allow outdoor and indoor medical marijuana cultivation
for qualified patients under the proposed zoning, but limit the size
and location of the grows.

Redding would restrict outdoor gardens to 100 square feet of canopy
and allow them only in backyards and interior side yards 30 feet from
the nearest neighbor. The city also would limit plant heights to 8
feet and require a 6-foot-tall fence around crops.

A couple of commissioners thought a 10-foot-by-10-foot garden might
be too small, and noted the city would review the ordinance in six
months.

Redding would limit indoor gardens to 100 square feet of canopy or 10
percent of the home, whichever was larger. The city also would
require a certified electrician to sign off on any electrical loads
for cultivation larger than 1,200 watts.

Finally, the city would limit new medicinal cannabis clubs to heavy
commercial and general commercial zones on the city outskirts, under
the proposed zoning.

Commission votes on yard setbacks for outdoor grows and zoning
restrictions for cannabis clubs were nearly unanimous, with only
Emmett Burroughs dissenting. Burroughs favored tighter limits on
clubs and an outdoor cultivation ban.

The commission nearly split on cultivation standards, voting 4-3.
Some commissioners, like Burroughs, favored tighter restrictions,
while others, like Cameron Middleton, worried a city requirement that
growers for collectives sign an affidavit with the development
services director could compromise privacy.

Commissioners defended the proposed zoning as a reasonable middle
ground after hearing from more than a half-dozen speakers, most of
whom criticized the zoning as too restrictive and invasive. Several
speakers were especially upset about the limits on outdoor
cultivation for personal use, noting they could not afford to grow
indoors or to join a cannabis club.

"I think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion," James
Benno said. "What if I don't like tomatoes and I find four others who
don't like tomatoes? Can we vote out tomato growing in Redding?"

Others said Redding's regulations violate Proposition 215,
California's Compassionate Use Law, and promised a class-action
lawsuit against the city.

Commissioners generally praised the regulations after picking them
apart line by line over the course of three meetings.

"We want as much as possible to allow people to use marijuana
medically if they have a legitimate recommendation," Commissioner
Lynne Wonacott said. "Our goal is the health and safety of you and
your neighbors and the city as a whole. Is it a perfect system? No,
but we are not like other communities that have tried to shut the
whole thing down."

The zoning restrictions endorsed by commissioners Tuesday complement
cannabis club regulations adopted Dec. 1 by the council that are set
to take effect in January.

Collectives must allow the police chief access to their records so
authorities can determine whether the clubs serve qualified medical
marijuana patients under the new regulations.

The city also will require doctors to specify amounts in their
medical marijuana recommendations to collective members, limit
cannabis sales to dried buds and ask members to verify that they
don't belong to more than one collective in Shasta County.

These regulations are designed to weed out profit-driven dope dealers
from legitimate medical marijuana collectives, which are supposed to
be nonprofit, Redding officials have said. Officials expect many of
Redding's estimated 20 to 30 clubs to shut down next year, once the
new rules take effect.