POT WAREHOUSE A BLURRY IDEA

Our view: An empty warehouse filled with marijuana? Sounds like a
nightmare Chico shouldn't encourage.

At first it sounded like a joke. Somebody wants to take a huge vacant
building near the Chico Municipal Airport and fill it with 600,000
square-feet of marijuana plants, an indoor grow the size of five
Chico Wal-Marts.

Only it wasn't a joke. The proposal came from a serious businessman,
who is kicking tires in an attempt to expand his Los Angeles-based
venture, Plant Properties Management, LLC.

Jason Oh, 36, learned of the old, vacant Koret building in Chico and
saw an opportunity for an indoor pot farm.

Space would be leased to medical marijuana collectives, which would
grow in the controlled environment.

"We want the city's blessing," Oh said.

Oh isn't going to get it - and shouldn't.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey and Chico Police Chief Mike Maloney say
it would be an illegal operation. City Manager Dave Burkland and the
city staff are discouraging Oh from spending time pursuing it.

Even a cannabis lobbyist called the proposal "absolutely ludicrous."

The only encouraging word we've heard from someone with juice is from
City Councilor Andy Holcombe, who says: "If it actually creates jobs
and tax revenue, it sounds like a promising business, just like any
other business."

This is the same councilor who voted against a Wal-Mart expansion
that would have added jobs and added to Chico's tax receipts.

Oh anticipates his huge indoor plantation would create 250 to 500
jobs in Chico. That seems a bit inflated to us. It only takes two or
three workers from Mexican drug cartels to plant, grow and harvest
the largest plantations in national forests.

Of course, the one in town will take more armed guards - perhaps that
factors into the "250 to 500" jobs. And the business will put a lot
of lawyers to work.

If Holcombe wants to argue that Wal-Mart would have taken jobs from
other businesses, the same can be said for the mega-marijuana
project. It might put small local growers out of business.

Shouldn't Holcombe be worried about them? Don't we want to keep the
profits local rather than ship them off to Los Angeles?

That's all a bit tongue in cheek. However, if voters decide to
legalize marijuana in November, requests like Oh's and the wacky
arguments that follow will become commonplace.

There's an argument that any use for a vacant building is better than
keeping it empty. This is one example proving that to be false.

A business that would attract attention from police and criminals
alike would not be a wise use of the property.

We always say we want manufacturing jobs, but this goes a little too far.