MARIJUANA CULTIVATION ORDINANCE RESCINDED

LAKE COUNTY -- The Board of Supervisors (BOS) responded to a
successful referendum petition Tuesday by voting unanimously to
rescind the law it passed in October establishing medical marijuana
cultivation regulations.

"We were not expecting this," Don Merrill, a proponent of the
referendum effort, said after the hearing. "We're pleasantly surprised."

The supervisors debated for nearly 45 minutes about what to do with
their ordinance, which many of them referred to as a "compromise."

However, Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley found at least 2,132
county voters disapproved of the BOS-supported law by signing the
referendum petition against it.

The total cleared the threshold necessary to force the supervisors to
decide whether to repeal their ordinance or put it to the voters,
either on the June ballot or in a special election before the
presidential primary.

District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown and others quickly shot down the idea
of holding a costly special vote, so the conversation shifted to the
June 5 election, which has the potential to include a different
measure about pot growth in Lake County.

The same groups behind the cultivation referendum submitted 3,285
signatures to Fridley's office on Dec. 20 as part of an attempt to
get an initiative measure before the voters in June.

The Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulations and the Lake
County Green Farmers Association support less stringent rules than
those passed by the BOS.

Fridley's office has until Jan. 25 to verify if the groups gathered
the minimum number of names needed to possibly get "The Lake County
Medical Marijuana Cultivation Act of 2012" on the June ballot.

If those efforts prove to be successful, the BOS will have to decide
whether to put the initiative measure to the voters or simply adopt
the law without any changes.

That possible situation played a part in Tuesday's deliberations.

Brown said he thought having two marijuana cultivation acts on the
same ballot could confuse some voters.

"In my opinion, there should be a ballot measure, up or down," he said.

Later in the discussion, some supervisors, including Brown, indicated
support for a scenario in which the BOS would direct county staff to
draft a new law, different from the one passed in October, to put to
the voters alongside the initiative measure.

The BOS has the ability to place any potential ordinance on an
election ballot, according to County Counsel Anita Grant.

Fridley said such a draft would need to be submitted by early March
to qualify for the June 5 vote.

Still, the supervisors were required to decide the fate of the
existing ordinance on Tuesday, rather than wait to see what develops
with the initiative effort.

The BOS voted unanimously to rescind the law, a move that puts county
code enforcers in the same position they've been in for years while
trying to address medical marijuana grows.

The ordinance would have set a range of rules for qualified
individuals to follow while growing their recommended amounts of marijuana.

Without the ordinance in place, the Lake County Code continues to
have no specific regulations regarding medical marijuana cultivation,
though growers have to continue adhering to other relevant local
laws, such as grading and water-usage requirements.

For the record, the Dec. 23 Record-Bee article "Signatures submitted
for marijuana initiative" was misleading.

To clarify, there will not be two initiative measures regarding local
marijuana cultivation laws on the June ballot because only one set of
proponents turned in signatures before the Dec. 22 deadline.