BOARD SETS LIMITS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY

On a 3-2 vote, supervisors Tuesday approved an ordinance limiting the
number of medical marijuana plants that can be grown in
unincorporated areas of Mendocino County to 25 plants per assessor's
parcel.

Supervisors Jim Wattenburger, Kendall Smith and David Colfax voted
for the measure; while supervisors John Pinches and Michael Delbar
opposed it.

Pinches voted against it because he thought the measure too
restrictive; Delbar voted against it because he thought it was not
restrictive enough.

Before the vote, Ross Liberty, who lives on Highway 253 southwest of
Ukiah, warned supervisors the decision they were about to make would
be historical.

"What this board is faced with is, is what does this county want
itself to be? You are at a crossroads. This place is horrendous to do
business. You can't find a vendor. You can't find employees. You
can't have it both ways. We're either going to be a county of
drug-dealers or we're gonna be a county of working folk. You guys get
to decide that today."

The ordinance is the product of nearly a year of work on the part of
the board of supervisors' Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by
Wattenburger and rounded out by Delbar.

The heart of the ordinance states: "The cultivation of more than 25
marijuana plants on any legal parcel, either inside or outside,
within the unincorporated area of the county, is a pubic nuisance.
This limitation shall be imposed regardless of the number of
qualified patients residing at such location. Further, this
limitation shall be imposed notwithstanding any assertion that the
person(s) cultivating marijuana are the caregiver(s) for qualified
patients."

New version weaker than October draft

In other sections, the ordinance backs off on previous attempts to
close loopholes against the medical marijuana industry, which many
county residents have claimed is "out of control."

Draft versions ordinance had stated "Wherever medical marijuana is
grown, a current and valid, original, state-issued marijuana card or
physician recommendation must be displayed in such a manner as to
allow law enforcement officers to easily see the card without having
to enter any building of any type."

The version of the ordinance as passed required only that a copy of
card or the physician's recommendation may be posted.

The final ordinance also softened language requiring marijuana grown
for medicinal purposes have "zip ties" issued by the Mendocino
County's Sheriff's Office.

The final version of the ordinance also softened posting language,
requiring anyone not the legal owner of a parcel and is cultivating
marijuana on the land to give written notice to the legal owner
before commencing cultivation and post notice at the site that the
landowner has been informed.

Allman likes it; Pinches, Delbar don't

The changes were made by County Counsel Jeanine Nadel, who told the
board she didn't feel she had legal basis to require more. The
changes were apparently sufficient to cause Supervisor Michael Delbar
to vote against the ordinance.

Before the vote, Delbar asked Nadel to put the old wording back on at
least some of the points.

Delbar also asked Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman whether he felt
jettisoning the requirement that original medical marijuana cards be
posted would enable dishonest growers to trick law
enforcement.

"In answer to your question, 'How are we not going to get snookered?'
well, we're cops, and they're robbers--and, well, we're gonna get
snookered," Allman conceded.

But when asked by board Chairwoman Kendall Smith what he thought the
effect would be if the ordinance was approved, Allman said, "If this
passes, we are going to see caregivers saying, 'We've got to be
reasonable with our neighbors.'" Later he added, "If this ordinance
passes, we will see much more compliance with medical marijuana
laws." Supervisor John Pinches submitted a counterproposal before the
Criminal Justice Committee's draft had gone to a final vote.

Pinches' two-tiered proposal would have removed all numerical
limitations on the cultivation of medical marijuana. The lowest level
stipulated that "not more than two 25 mature plant medical marijuana
gardens, separated by a barrier" would be allowed per legal parcel
(without a use permit.)

Pinches said he wanted to double the allowed plant count to
accommodate instances in which a parcel was jointly owned, perhaps by
a husband and wife, or by two people in a domestic partnership. Then
both co-owners could legally grow medical marijuana.

The second tier stated people who are growing " 51 or more mature
medical marijuana plants must obtain a conditional use permit to
address issues such as needed security, air quality, traffic and
impacts on water, wildlife, water, etc."

The other supervisors showed little interest in Pinches' offering. At
one point Smith said the county did not have sufficient staff to deal
with all the use permits that would be requested of the Planning and
Building Department, nor did it have sufficient staff in the Tax
Collector's office to deal with applications for zip ties.

Pinches said he could not support the CJC version of the ordinance.
Noting a consultant who had been hired by the county earlier this
year had estimated that the marijuana industry represented two-thirds
of the county's economy, Pinches said, "There's parts of the economy
that I want to protect. People up in my district, with the demise of
the timber industry the way it is now, I don't want to take away
their last sliver of hope."

The board decided to postpone discussion on a proposed marijuana
dispensary ordinance until early next year.