AFTER A YEAR, BIGGS HAPPY WITH ONE SIMPLE MARIJUANA RULE

BIGGS - While Butte County wrestles tonight with crafting an
ordinance to regulate medicinal marijuana cultivation, the city of
Biggs is pleased by how its year-old ordinance has performed.

About a year ago the Butte County's smallest city, with a population
of just over 1,800, declared the growing of marijuana outside a
public nuisance, explained Biggs City Administrator Pete Carr.

In Biggs cultivating marijuana outside of a "lockable" structure is
completely prohibited.

"We made it very simple," said Carr.

Tonight the Butte County Board of Supervisors will hold a public
hearing in Chico on a proposed ordinance that would:

* Put restrictions on how many marijuana plants can be grown on a
parcel of a specific size;

* Charges a registration fee for growers;

* Establishes how far the gardens have to be from the nearest lot line;

* Prohibits the gardens from being within a specific distance from a
school, park, child care operation or other facilities, and;

* Requires fences of certain height must block the view of the
gardens from adjacent roads or public right of ways.

The Biggs ordinance makes no reference to the number of plants being
grown nor any other issue.

Carr explained marijuana plants were declared a public nuisance
because of the smell, which at harvest times is a foul odor, and
because the presence of a visible pot garden poses a threat to
neighborhood safety.

Carr said backyard grows encourage criminals to raid these gardens,
which in other areas has led to gunfights.

As a result of the simplicity of the regulation, "I can't tell you
how easy it is to enforce."

Last year the city sent out notices to two individuals giving them 48
hours to "abate" their outside gardens or the city would take action.

In both cases, according to Carr, the growers immediately cut down the plants.

If the people involved hadn't "abated themselves," city workers would
have gone onto the property, cut and hauled off the plants, and
billed the individuals for the city's costs, explained the administrator.

He said the ordinance has virtually universal local support. Carr
said, when word of the ordinance first got out, he did receive an
angry email from a man in Southern California, but that has been the
extent of the protests.

The administrator said there were some initial concerns expressed
about the potential damage indoor pot gardens could do to the houses
and other buildings where the cultivation takes place.

The city took the position that was an issue for the owner of the
building to deal with, and was not a legitimate concern of the community.

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BUTTE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

marijuana cultivation ordinance

5:30 p.m. today

Chico Elks Lodge,

1705 Manzanita Ave.