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Clearlake City Council sends marijuana cultivation ordinance back to staff for reworking
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A proposed medical marijuana cultivation ordinance that received unanimous support from the Clearlake City Council last month failed to get council approval at a required second reading Thursday night, and now will go back to city staff for retooling.
The proposed ordinance, recommended for passage by the Clearlake Planning Commission, is based on a county ordinance passed last summer.
It limits plants according to parcel size, from six plants on parcels of half an acre or less up to 48 plants on 40 acres or more, and also prohibits growing in mobile home parks – unless garden areas are established and specified by management – and multifamily dwellings, limits processing to the number of plants that can be grown on on the site and establishes other basic rules such as screening.
During the council's May 23 discussion, the council had agreed to a change proposed by Mayor Jeri Spittler, who wanted daycare centers removed from the definition of schools.
The ordinance requires a distance of 600 feet between grows and school facilities, and Spittler suggested that “activists” could open daycares in order to try to prevent grows nearby.
At that time Spittler's council colleagues agreed to remove daycares from the definition, but asked for “licensed daycares” to be added back to the schools definition at Thursday night's meeting.
The proposed ordinance had garnered little public comment at the May 23 meeting.
But it was a different matter on Thursday evening, with several community members coming forward to raise concerns about the impact of marijuana cultivation on the community.
“I think we should not allow the growing within this community,” said Clearlake resident Dave Hughes.
Hughes questioned who would monitor compliance, and referencing the California Supreme Court's recent decision regarding a Riverside case that upheld the right of local governments to regulate medical marijuana through zoning, pointed out, “You don't have to allow it.”
Another city resident, Pete Gascoigne, told the council, “I'm against this ordinance, the whole thing.”
He was particularly upset about eliminating daycares from the school definition and the associated distance requirements.
“Marijuana does hurt the community,” he said.
Lower Lake attorney Ron Green, who initially had come to the council to ask for clearer language in the ordinance, reminded the council that, for some, marijuana offered important medical uses. “It's a miracle drug,” he said.
Following public comment, Council member Gina Fortino Dickson said she researched city daycares and found there were nine small daycare facilities and five family daycares, serving a total of 142 children.
Concerns for keeping children safe caused her and fellow council members to ask to have daycares restored to the school definition, despite Spittler's continued opposition.
With the council unwilling to move forward on the ordinance in its present form, it was handed back to City Manager Joan Phillipe for additional work.
Phillipe said Friday that she'll begin reworking the ordinance, following council direction to put “licensed daycare” back in the school definition.
A review period also will be added; Phillipe said it would call for revisiting the ordinance a year or some other period of time after it goes in effect to see if it is working and whether it needs changes.
She'll also consider adding clarifying language suggested by Green regarding plant numbers and parcel sizes.
Green had sent a memo to the council before the meeting, with Phillipe and the city attorney initially not recommending the changes to the council because they would deviate too much from the county ordinance, which the council had wanted to closely mirror in its own.
Regarding other potential changes, the ordinance in its current form calls for violations of its guidelines to be treated as misdemeanors, with fines of not more than $100 for the first offense, $300 for the second offense, and for the third a $500 fire or a six-month jail sentence, or both.
Phillipe said she will look at increasing those fine amounts to $100 per plant on the first offense, $300 per plant on the second and $500 per plant for the third, plus creating language that after a third fine an individual will be prohibited from growing at all.
In addition, she will consider creating language for the revised document that places a frequent offender “red flag” on properties were police respond multiple times, with possible cost recovery for nuisance situations.
“I will be reviewing the code enforcement ordinance to see if it can be used as a 'companion' ordinance and use the administrative and cost recovery components of it,” Phillipe told Lake County News.
Because of the proposed changes, Phillipe said the revised document will have to be reintroduced at a future council meeting.
She said she anticipates having it back on the council's June 27 agenda to discuss which of the proposed changes can and can't be included – in particular, she believes the allowable fines may be statutorily set, and she also needs to speak to the city attorney about whether they can legally “red flag” nuisance properties.
“Depending on where I end up after reviewing it all, the ordinance could conceivably also be on the next agenda but it may not be until July,” she said.
Phillipe added, “Inasmuch as the ordinance, when adopted, will not be effective until Jan. 1, 2014, there is a time constraint.”
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Supervisors decide against giving employees who violate new dress code paid time to change
LAKEPORT, Calif. – At its Tuesday meeting, the Board of Supervisors decided against a proposed policy addition that would allow employees to be paid to leave work to change clothes on their first violation of a new county dress code.
Social Services Director Carol Huchingson went to the board with a request for conceptual approval of the policy addition.
Huchingson said the new county dress code policy will go into effect on July 1, and replaces an earlier version of a similar policy that calls for professional dress in the workplace.
That previous policy, she said, allowed room for “considerable judgment around what is professional.”
Copies of the full policy weren't provided for the Tuesday discussion.
“The new policy provides very specific guidelines for what is allowable, both in terms of professional dress and appearance in general,” said Huchingson.
She said the new policy has been subject to meet and confer with county employee associations, and the county made considerable revisions to it based on input from staff and Lake County Employees Association representatives.
In preparation for implementing the new policy, Huchingson said department supervisors are being trained to ensure that the policy's enforcement is fair and consistent.
For situations in which an employee violates the dress code for the first time, Huchingson proposed that, as a show of good faith to support employees as they learn to comply, the county pay the employees to go home and change when they first violated the policy.
She said that the amount of time allowed would need to be predetermined when the employee is directed to go home to change, but she said it would never exceed more than an hour and half.
Huchingson said she had worked extensively with county Human Resources Director Kathy Ferguson in working out the details, and that Ferguson supported the concept.
“I acknowledge that my request may be a bit out of the ordinary,” said Huchingson, adding that it really was a matter of better service and a more professional workplace.
In the Social Services Department in particular, Huchingson said, they offer a lot of counseling to people on how to improve their lives, and she suggested that they need needed to model the behavior that they wanted to see.
The board members, however, for the most part did not support paying employees to go home and change when they violated the work place dress code policy, even on a first-time basis.
Supervisor Rob Brown also raised concerns about having a policy for one department that was in place for other departments.
“Is this going to be a countywide policy?” He asked
He said Huchingson, in this case as in others, was at the forefront of the issue.
Huchingson said Animal Care and Control has a dress code based on the previous county dress code version.
She said in discussing the matter with Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson, he'd relayed that they hadn't had problems with enforcing it. Huchingson added, however, that Animal Care and Control is a much smaller department.
Unlike her colleagues on the board, Supervisor Denise Rushing favored the idea of putting the policy for paid leave to change clothing in place, at least on a trial basis.
She suggested that they could put the one time change of clothing with pay in place as a pilot program and work out the details. She pointed out that some departments have field work while others have office work.
“It seems to me the need is important here, and why couldn't we just go ahead with a pilot right now and get a sense of what it costs,” she said.
Rushing said she believed that it would be only a handful of employees who didn't get the policy and that that would quickly be sorted out.
Huchingson said that was her belief as well, that a small number of employees initially may have issues and that after a rocky few weeks it would be sorted out.
Brown said he didn't have a problem with going forward with the policy, but added that if they thought sending an employee home with no pay the second time they had violated the dress code would have meaning, think about what would happen when they were sent home without pay the first time.
“They either get it or they don't,” Brown said.
Board Chair Jeff Smith asked Huchingson if the paid clothing change policy would need to go to meet and confer. Huchingson replied that it would only need to if it was approved.
Supervisor Jim Comstock thanked Huchingson for taking on the matter. “This shouldn't be an issue, but it is,” he said.
With all of the training employees are being provided, Comstock said he believed they should understand the dress code requirements.
He said his first inclination would be to give them a chance and pay them to change the first time, however with so much training, to get paid with public funds to go home and change didn't seem right.
“I guess I have a slightly different view of this,” said Rushing, who believed it really came down to the frontline supervisors in the departments.
“It's a really hard job to be a frontline supervisor anyway,” Rushing said.
It's a hard decision, she said, to send someone home without pay for what is a minor infraction. She felt that while that was being sorted out, it would make sense to give supervisors a tool.
Rushing said sending someone home without pay is a disciplinary action, and it would be a tough call for a supervisor to make.
Smith said he also felt there was a happy medium. He said he agreed with the other supervisors about not wanting to compensate employees for dressing inappropriately.
“We're also losing productivity by sending them home,” he said.
He suggested that the happy medium was to have the employees stay at work for the rest of the day, warn them and give them a written notice, and tell them that if they returned dressed inappropriately the next day they would be sent home for a full day without pay.
Huchingson responded that keeping a person in the workplace who is not dressed appropriately actually affects others.
In the end the board's consensus was not to add the paid change provision to the new dress code policy.
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Clearlake City Council to hold second reading of marijuana cultivation ordinance, hear wind park presentation
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will hold the second reading on a proposed ordinance that will govern marijuana cultivation within the city limits, and hear presentations on a proposed wind power project and a community emergency response assessment.
The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, for a closed session to discuss property negotiations for the Wisedas Resort site at 14395 Lakeshore Drive and a performance evaluation of City Manager Joan Phillipe before convening in open session at 6 p.m.
During Thursday's meeting the council will present a proclamation declaring June 2013 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
Items on the consent agenda – considered to be noncontroversial and accepted as a slate with one vote – include a resolution authorizing participation by the Clearlake Police Department in the GAP grant administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control; acceptance of property located at 3960 and 3970 Mullen; consideration of denial of a claim for damages from Israel Sanchez; minutes from the May 18 Lake County Vector Control District meeting; and consideration of a resolution approving a temporary street closure for the July 6 barbecue and parade.
At the Thursday meeting, the council will consider the second reading of a proposed marijuana cultivation ordinance to which it gave initial approval – with some minor changes – at its May 23 meeting.
The ordinance closely mirrors that adopted by the county, prohibiting grows of any size on vacant parcels as well as commercial cultivation, setting plant limits according to parcel size, and prohibiting outdoor cultivation in mobile home parks – unless a designated garden area is set aside – and multifamily dwelling properties.
If the council approves the ordinance on Thursday, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, according to the draft document.
In other business, the council will hear a presentation from Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait on the Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response report, as well as a report on the investigation of geothermal gases in the Burns Valley neighborhood, which was prepared by the California Department of Public Health.
Ross and Associates, a Sacramento-based public relations firm, will give the council a presentation on the Walker Ridge wind power project and ask the council for a letter of support.
AltaGas, a Canadian company, is proposing to place between 29 and 42 wind turbines on more than 8,100 acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Walker Ridge area, which straddles Lake and Colusa counties, as Lake County News has reported.
The council also will hold a discussion of Mayor Jeri Spittler's review of the city's 1980 incorporation documents.
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061313 Clearlake City Council - Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance Second Reading
Clearlake's Safe Routes to School projects set to begin
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Work on two projects in the city of Clearlake meant to make children's pathways to school safer will begin this month.
Clearlake City Engineer Bob Galusha said the city's Safe Routes to School projects, located on Old Highway 53 and Dam Road, will begin on Wednesday, June 12, and Thursday, June 20, respectively.
The Clearlake City Council awarded the projects to Granite Construction of Ukiah at its meeting on Thursday, May 23, Galusha said.
The contract bid for both of the city's Safe Routes to School projects totals $552,256. Galusha said a federally funded grant administered through Caltrans is paying for the projects.
The project on Old Highway 53 extends from Lakeshore Drive to Olympic Drive, and on Dam Road the project runs from Lake Street to the entrance of Walmart, Galusha said.
Galusha said the Old Highway 53 project consists of widening, restriping and signing the existing road, and adding bike and pedestrian lanes on each side of the road. In addition five existing Lake Transit bus turnouts will be paved with asphalt concrete.
This Wednesday through Friday incidental storm drain and rock excavation work will take place and traffic will be reduced to one lane and controlled by flagman. Galusha said delays to motorists should be minimal.
Between Monday, June 17, and Thursday, June 20, major roadway excavation and paving widening will occur on that section of Old Highway 53 and traffic will be reduced to one lane and controlled by flagman, Galusha said.
He advised motorists to use alternate routes during this excavation and paving operation as extended delays can be expected. Advanced electronic message boards will be placed in advance of the project start date to advise motorists of the upcoming street work and that delays can be expected.
The second Safe Routes to School project consists of rehabilitating and widening the narrow section of Dam Road from Lake Street approximately 800 feet to the northwest, Galusha said.
In addition to widening the narrow section of Dam Road, the city's contractor will be restriping and signing the entire length of Dam Road for bike/pedestrian lanes from Lake Street to the Walmart entrance driveway, he said.
Work is scheduled to start on Thursday, June 20, and will extend through Friday, June 28, according to Galusha.
During the construction work on the 800 foot narrow section of Dam Road just north of Lake Street, Dam Road will be closed to through traffic between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Galusha said.
Local residents who live along that section of Dam Road will have access to their properties but it will be limited during the construction hours, he said.
Through traffic will be detoured around the project via Highway 53 through Lower Lake and/or Jesse Street. Galusha said advanced electronic message boards will be placed before the project start date to advise motorists of the upcoming street work.
