LAKEPORT, Calif. – After hundreds of people crowded into the Lake County Courthouse for a Tuesday afternoon hearing on an interim urgency ordinance on marijuana cultivation, the discussion was postponed when the fire marshal shut down the meeting,
As a result, the Board of Supervisors rescheduled the hearing, planning a special meeting at 9 a.m. Monday, July 9, at the Little Theater at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.
At a meeting two weeks ago the board directed Community Development Director Rick Coel to come back with an interim urgency ordinance to address the marijuana-related problems that have arisen around the county in the summer growing season.
That direction came in the wake of the failure of the marijuana cultivation initiative Measure D, which was on the June 5 ballot.
Lake County residents voted down the measure 66 percent to 33 percent after a number of community groups – along with the Board of Supervisors and the two local city councils – came out against the initiative, which tried to secure right to farm protections for marijuana growers.
Measure D proposed to allow up to 12 plants on the smallest residential parcels and up to 84 plants on parcels seven acres and larger.
By comparison, Coel’s proposed urgency ordinance – based on marijuana cultivation advisory committee suggestions – calls for outdoor cultivation of no more than three mature female or six immature marijuana plants on a parcel half an acre or less, and no more than six mature female or 12 immature marijuana plants on residential parcels half an acre or larger.
It also would provide “a clear local land use ordinance” to prohibit cultivation on vacant, undeveloped properties, Coel wrote in his report.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday people had started crowding into the first floor of the courthouse building on N. Forbes, where the board meetings are held.
A line of people stretched out the front of the building and down the block, as people waited to be screened in order to gain entrance to the courthouse.
The hearing originally had been scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., but the board had a full agenda and was well behind by the time it broke for lunch, so the meeting was set to reconvene at 2 p.m.
However, just before 2 p.m. the decision was made to delay the hearing after Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells appeared and notified the board that the chambers was well over capacity.
Board Chair Rob Brown said they would need to clear out a large number of people – including many in the board chambers and more in the courthouse lobby – in order to move forward with the hearing Tuesday afternoon.
“We would rather not do that,” he said.
He recommended they reschedule the discussion for a Monday, with no other items on the agenda, and in a venue that was large enough to accommodate everyone.
After brief discussion, Brown left to call the fairgrounds, which agreed to host the meeting.
After the meeting was rescheduled, people spilled into the lobby and out onto the front steps, clogging the walkway.
Past Board of Supervisors and Lake County Planning Commission meetings have been lengthy and contentious when it comes to marijuana.
An April 2011 planning commission meeting on marijuana regulations was postponed and moved to the Lake County Jail after a bomb threat was phoned in to the courthouse.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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