CORNING BANS POT GARDENS

CORNING - With none of the lengthy discussion of the Jan. 26 meeting,
the City Council passed two ordinances, including 639 with a 4-1
vote, in accepting the consent agenda at Tuesday's meeting.
Councilman John Leach was the lone no-vote saying ordinance 639,
which deals with the cultivation of marijuana within city limits,
should have gone back to the Planning Commission.

Both ordinance 639 and 640 were discussed and the first reading was
waived at the Jan. 26 meeting.

Ordinance 639 prohibits outdoor cultivation and limits cultivation to
a maximum area of 120 square feet.

It also bans cultivation in residences and requires cultivation
buildings to have a ventilation system approved by a building
official and a six-foot fence with a minimum of 10 feet between
property line and the building.

Cultivators must register with the Planning Department and all
non-conforming or grandfathered medical marijuana cultivators must
comply with the new ordinance by Dec. 31.

Ordinance 640 is a water efficient landscape regulation passed down
by the state, Mayor Gary Strack said.

They want our water down south and they want to tell us how to use
what they don't get, Strack said at the first reading during the Jan.
26 meeting. Planning Director John Stoufer said at the Jan. 26
meeting that the ordinance would not impact existing landscapes.

According to the initial staff report, the ordinance applies to the
landscape and not the full footprint of the property.

The second staff report said the ordinance is in response to the
Water Conservation in Landscaping Act of 2006, which requires cities
to either adopt the Model Water Efficient Ordinance prepared by the
Department of Water Resources or make one of their own that is
equally conservative by Jan. 2010.

The staff report shows the regulations apply to new construction
greater than 5,000 square feet and rehabilitation of
developer-installed irrigated land greater than 2,500 feet.

The ordinance includes the necessity for a soil management report, a
landscape design plan, irrigation design plan, grading design plan
and irrigation schedule to be completed by the applicant.

Full text of the plan developed by Water Resources is available at
www.water.ca.gov/wateruseefficiency/landscapeordinance/.