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Clearlake City Council gives final approval to updated marijuana cultivation rules
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – After four months of lengthy meetings, extensive revisions, legal threats and disagreements with community members as well as each other, the Clearlake City Council on Thursday night gave final approval to an ordinance to establish new rules – and enforcement procedures – for medical marijuana cultivation in the city.
After less than 15 minutes of review and discussion with staff and some questions from community members, the council voted unanimously for the final version of Ordinance No. 175-2015, which will go into effect in 30 days.
At the start of the year, the council had directed staff to come back with an ordinance banning all marijuana growing in the city.
Council members were concerned about the escalating number of marijuana grows in the city, particularly last summer.
With residents in the unincorporated county passing Measure N last June – it prohibits outdoor grows in neighborhoods – and with such outdoor grows already banned in Lakeport, Clearlake was left with the least-stringent rules in the county.
Based on council direction, City Attorney Ryan Jones in February presented the council with the no-grow ordinance. That led to two marathon meetings at the city's senior center, with the council passing the ordinance at the end of that month.
It was challenged by a referendum that narrowly qualified for the ballot – by a mere five signatures – and also led to the filing of a lawsuit against the city.
At the start of May, the council rescinded that ordinance and asked staff to come back with revised rules based on the city's 2013 marijuana cultivation ordinance, which was similar to a county ordinance that had been replaced by Measure N.
The first draft of Clearlake's newest marijuana cultivation ordinance proposed to reduce plant numbers on all parcel sizes to six, but at the council's last meeting in May council members expressed concern about taking that action in the middle of the growing season.
The latest version Jones presented on Thursday put the numbers back to those established in the 2013 ordinance: six plants on parcels of half an acre or under, 12 plants on half an acre to an acre, 18 plants on an acre to five acres, 36 plants on parcels of between five and 40 acres, and 48 plants on parcels 40 acres or larger.
Differentiating it from the preceding ordinance is that the newest rules include enforcement and summary abatement, which had not been included in the 2013 document.
In going over the updates on Thursday, Jones explained the six-plant limit had been replaced by the 2013 numbers and a grandfather clause that had applied to grows within 600 feet of child care centers had been removed.
Jones said the document's statement of intent also was changed from being prohibitive to regulatory, “hazardous condition” is defined and the length of time for abating nuisances was reduced from 15 days to 10 days.
The council had discussed height restrictions, but Jones said he deleted a paragraph about a 6-foot height limit for plants as the ordinance already speaks to the need for screening plants from view.
He said the ordinance before the council was drafted to reflect the direction he received.
City resident Dave Hughes urged the city “to get on with it” and pass the document.
Jones told the council, “This is an ordinance that is really for this grow season, for this period of time.”
He said the city is looking at appointing an ad hoc committee to work with the public on what they want to do going forward.
“Amending, revising, drafting a new ordinance is something that would be discussed by this ad hoc committee going forward. This is the ordinance for us today,” Jones said.
Only one council member – Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson – offered any statements to staff during the brief discussion.
“I think this is a terrific stop gap. I think this provides the necessary teeth in order to enforce this ordinance this growing season,” Fortino Dickson said.
She said what the city chooses to do in the future with an ad hoc committee will be different from the ordinance before the council Thursday night. “This serves our purpose for right now.”
She moved to approve the ordinance, with Councilman Russ Perdock seconding and the council voting 5-0.
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061115 Clearlake City Council Cultivation Ordinance
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Middletown Area Town Hall to get update on geothermal waste facility cleanup, Dollar General proposal
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – This week the Middletown Area Town Hall, or MATH, will get a report on clean up efforts at a former geothermal waste dump site.
MATH will meet in the activity room at the Middletown Community Center, 21256 Washington St., beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11.
Meetings are open to the community.
On the agenda is an update from contractors for Pacific Gas and Electric regarding the cleanup of the former geothermal waste disposal facility on Butts Canyon Road.
According to the PG&E Web site, the property was used for waste disposal between 1976 and 1986. Mud and waste from geothermal operations were deposited in the property's evaporation ponds and solid waste disposal trenches.
PG&E – which had been among the companies that used the facility – was part of the effort to close the site after Geothermal Inc., the facility's operator, went bankrupt. In 2003, PG&E bought the facility and took on the responsibility of the facility's cleanup, according to corporation's Web site.
As part of the site restoration, PG&E is working to restore wildlife habitat and wetlands.
On Thursday there also will be an update on the proposed Dollar General store.
Texas-based Cross Development has applied for a major use permit to build the 9,100-square-foot store at 20900 Highway 29.
The store proposal was the focus of MATH's May meeting: bit.ly/1F2sHOL .
Other items on the Thursday meeting agenda include a report on MATH's recent chili cook-off, movies in Middletown Square Park and new light poles.
The board of directors includes Chairman Fletcher Thornton, Vice Chair Claude Brown, Secretary Ken Gonzales, and members Charlotte Kubiak and Mike Tabacchi.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
Meetings are subject to videotaping.
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Clearlake City Council to hold second reading of updated marijuana cultivation ordinance
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will hold what is expected to be the second and final reading of an ordinance to strengthen the city's rules relating to marijuana cultivation and create a system for enforcement.
The meeting will start at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 11, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The council's main item of business on Thursday is the consideration of a second reading of Ordinance No. 175-2015, which updates an ordinance passed in 2013 to establish marijuana cultivation rules.
Updating the 2013 ordinance is the option the council chose to pursue after deciding to rescind a February ordinance – challenged by a referendum – that banned all marijuana cultivation in the city.
At the council's May 14 meeting – during which the ordinance challenged by referendum was rescinded – council members gave staff direction to come back with updates to the current city rules.
The city hasn't been able to enforce its existing rules because, as Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen said during a February council meeting, the 2013 ordinance was written as a civil ordinance for code enforcement, not police.
City Attorney Ryan Jones returned on May 28 with an updated ordinance that City Manager Joan Phillipe said in her report for the June 11 meeting encapsulated the direction given to staff.
One of the main proposals in the initial document presented in May was to reduce plant numbers to six plants on parcels of any size.
However, during the discussion at the May 28 meeting, council and staff agreed that reducing the plant numbers now – in what is essentially the middle of the growing season – could be problematic.
As a result, Jones produced the latest draft of Ordinance No. 175-2015, shown below, that reverts to the 2013 numbers.
It allows for outdoor cultivation of up to six plants on parcels of half-an acre or under, 12 plants on half an acre to an acre, 18 plants on an acre to five acres, 36 plants on parcels of between five and 40 acres, and 48 plants on parcels 40 acres or larger.
Aspects of the ordinance that remain unchanged from its original iteration of nearly two years ago include prohibiting cultivation on vacant parcels or lots with no approved residential use, no grows allows in mobile home parks – unless there is a designated garden area – and apartments, and no cultivation within 600 feet of a public or private school as measured from the property line of the grow site to the school.
Processing on properties also must remain limited to the amount of marijuana that may be cultivated on those premises.
Outdoor cultivation within 600 feet of a child care center also remains against city rules. The council directed Jones at its last meeting to remove a passage that had been included in the 2013 ordinance that grandfathered in any existing grows that were within that distance from child care centers.
The amended 20-page draft ordinance specifically discusses abatement procedures and penalties for violations, as the previous version of the ordinance did not include enforcement or penalty provisions.
Administrative citation penalties that the council directed Jones to include are $1,000 per plant, plus $100 per plant for every day the plant remains unabated past the abatement deadline that the administrative citation sets forth.
Jones added to the ordinance an abatement procedure that includes a hearing process and recovery of abatement costs, including the filing of liens on the specific properties found in violation.
At the council's direction, the updated draft ordinance's time for abating public nuisances has been reduced from 15 days to 10 days.
Community members told the council May 28 that they wanted an emphasis on eradicating large, illegal grows.
“We need some enforcement this year. We don't need a rewrite of this ordinance. We need an amendment,” said resident and Realtor Dave Hughes, who emphasized that people growing within the limits have nothing to worry about.
Council members also felt they needed to make a strong statement, especially to people who have come to the city merely to grow and take advantage of its weak enforcement.
“I definitely wanted something enforceable, and enforceable as fast as we can. Because, again, it's never been about hurting people or taking things away,” but making the city a safe place, said Mayor Denise Loustalot.
“I see people from both sides of this issue reaching common ground and recognizing that it's the commercial grows that are a problem. We need to have a safe city. That's what I'm all about,” said Councilman Russ Perdock.
Perdock also encouraged people to work with city officials to make Clearlake safer.
Loustalot said she saw the community coming together on the issue, noting that the council had offered a huge compromise by deciding to leave the 2013 ordinance's plant numbers in place.
Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson added that she wanted to “get the ball rolling” to be ready for next year's grow season.
Also on Thursday, Lt. Tim Celli of the Clearlake Police Department will present a department commendation and introduce a new officer.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; receipt of the final adopted Local Agency Formation Commission 2015-16 fiscal year budget; consideration of acceptance of parcels at 16004 13th Ave. and 16015 13th Ave. that's proposed to be donated by Cendie Bailey, executor of the Opal Duncan Trust; consideration of a second reading to formally repeal Ordinance No. 174-2015, passed in February to ban all marijuana cultivation in the city; authorization for the city manager to sign letters of consent to Cache Creek Partners LP, for the transfer of limited partnership interests to a to-be-formed limited partner Cache Creek Ventures LLC; consideration of resolution No. 2015-14 approving a temporary street closure for the 58th annual July 4 barbecue and parade; consideration of adoption of Resolution No. 2015-15 approving amendments to the memorandum of understanding between the city of Clearlake and Middle Management Association.
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061115 Clearlake City Council Cultivation Ordinance
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Planning commission to continue Valley Oaks discussion, consider Geysers pipeline project
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Lake County Planning Commission will meet to continue its consideration of a final environmental impact report on a proposed south county development, and discuss a pipeline project at The Geysers and the subdividing of a parcel.
The commission will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 11, in the Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
In a public hearing timed for 10 a.m., the commission will consider certifying the final environmental impact report for the Valley Oaks development, which developer Ken Porter of Kimco Development is proposing to build on 150 acres at 18196 and 18426 South State Highway 29, Middletown.
The project would include 380 single-story homes for seniors – ages 55 and above – built in six phases, along with a 31-acre commercial area, housing/assisted living facility, and 30 acres of public open space, trails and park facilities.
In 2009 the commission approved the project's draft environmental impact report before it was sidelined by Porter in response to the recession.
Since then, Porter has adjusted the project to be for geared for seniors. Another change is that Caltrans is planning a roundabout at Hartmann Road and Highway 29, which would change the entrance to the development's commercial village.
The commission first began the discussion at its May 28 meeting, hearing a presentation from Kimco Development about the project ( www.bit.ly/1BGpaEs ).
However, the commission chose to hold a decision over at staff's suggestion. Because four of the five planning commissioners weren't involved with considering the project previously, the extra two weeks was meant to allow them to be fully briefed on the project.
Also on the Thursday agenda is a public hearing timed for 9:05 a.m. to consider a mitigated negative declaration based on an initial study for a parcel map, which Wayne Ahlstrom is seeking as part of the proposed subdividing of a four-and-one-third-acre lot owned by Shortgame Club LLC into two parcels. The lot is located at 1235 Mountview Drive, Lakeport.
At 9:20 a.m., the commission will hold a public hearing on a mitigated negative declaration based on initial study for a minor modification to a use permit sought by Geysers Power Co. LLC.
The company wants to construct an above-ground pipeline corridor approximately 2,626 feet in length, which will connect the West Ford Flat Steam Field to an existing pipeline that serves the Calistoga Steam Field. The project is located at 10350 Socrates Mine Road, Middletown.
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