POT ORDINANCE PASSED

GRIDLEY - All medical marijuana gardens in unincorporated Butte County
will be banned on lots smaller than a half-acre and within 1,000 feet
of schools, churches and other facilities, and numbers of plants will
be limited on larger properties.

Those are among the requirements of the ordinance that has been the
focus of three public hearings in three different cities since February.

Following Tuesday's hearing at the Butte County Fairgrounds in
Gridley, the supervisors voted 4-1 to adopt the ordinance.

The measure, which is a land use and not a criminal measure, goes into
effect in 30 days.

Under the ordinance, six mature plants can be grown on parcels between
a half-acre and 1.5 acres. As the lot size increases so do the number
of plants allowed.

The number tops out at 99 plants on property of more than 160
acres.

Regardless of the acreage, no marijuana can be cultivated within 1,000
feet of a school, school bus stop, park, church, or residential drug
treatment facility.

The ordinance also requires that growers be Butte County residents and
requires the landowner of rented land be notified of any grows.

Growers on anything larger than 1.5 acres will have to obtain a $285
permit from the county's Department of Development Services.

As in the previous hearings in the Supervisors Chambers in Oroville
and in the Elks Lodge in Chico, dozens of opponents of the ordinance
told the supervisors of their desperate need for their "medicine."

Some charged that prohibiting gardens on the smallest lots amounted to
economic discrimination, favoring those who could afford larger parcels.

Many threatened to recall the board if they approved the ordinance.
Fliers outlining the steps necessary to conduct a recall were
distributed in the crowd.

But others said the county needed to protect non-growers from the
smell of the maturing plants and the dangers of criminals raiding
medical marijuana gardens.

When Supervisor Steve Lambert, who chairs the panel, closed public
testimony, Chico Supervisor Maureen Kirk offered an amended proposal
that would have allowed more plants on parcels, and reduced some of
the other limitations on cultivation.

That proposal died for lack of a second.

Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly moved the ordinance be approved as
written.

Paradise Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi seconded his motion.

Connelly said he has had numerous contacts with citizens who told him
of the negative impacts of nearby gardens.

He did point out enforcement of the ordinance would be "complaint
driven" and county code enforcement officers will not be on the hunt
for violators.

Chico Supervisor Larry Wahl said he would vote no because the proposal
neither went far enough to protect the safety of the citizens nor
preserved the right of the non-grower to the "quiet enjoyment" of
their property.

He said he was opposed to making some aspect of marijuana cultivation
legal when it remains illegal under federal law.

"This law does not solve the problem we have here in Butte County,"
Wahl said.

Lambert and Connelly said they wanted to review the ordinance later in
the year to see how it worked.

The board approved it with Wahl as the only dissenter.

County Counsel Bruce Alpert said the ordinance applies even in
non-conforming gardens that have already been planted.

If there are complaints about the gardens they will be "abated,"
according to Alpert and Tim Snellings, director of the county
Department of Development Services.