LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With the majority of Lake County voters who took part in Tuesday's primary election casting ballots in support of Measure N, county officials are preparing to implement the marijuana cultivation measure's rules in July.
Measure N began as county Ordinance No. 2997, which the Board of Supervisors passed unanimously last December, as Lake County News has reported.
Its key points include banning outdoor cultivation in community growth boundaries, and limiting plant numbers on parcels larger than one acre outside of community growth boundaries to six mature or 12 immature plants.
In addition, it prevents grows on vacant parcels, limits indoor grows to 100 square feet or less, and keeps outdoor cultivation 1,000 feet from schools, parks or other facilities serving children, and 100 feet from water bodies.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office is responsible for enforcement, which is meant to be a quicker process than that included in the county's interim urgency ordinance.
A successful referendum effort early this year led to the ordinance being placed on the ballot after the supervisors voted to let it stand and go to voters.
According to preliminary election results from the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, on Tuesday voters chose to accept the supervisors' rules, with votes in favor totaling 52.6 percent and no votes coming in at 47.4 percent.
Initially, county officials believed that Measure N – which as Ordinance No. 2997 was set to go into effect Jan. 16 before the referendum put it on hold – would go into effect immediately after getting a majority vote in the election, according to County Counsel Anita Grant.
However, Grant said Wednesday that a closer inspection of state election law by county staff revealed that Measure N won't become law until the date the Board of Supervisors accepts the registrar's certification of the final election results. The measure won't go into effect until another 10 days after that date.
The process of conducting the Tuesday primary's official canvass is now under way, with interim Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez reporting that she has until Tuesday, July 1, to complete the work.
If Valadez uses the full time allotted for the certification process, based on past practice the results should go to the Board of Supervisors the following Tuesday, July 8, meaning Measure N would go into effect on July 18.
If that timeline holds, it means there could be nearly two weeks between the end of the county interim urgency ordinance on marijuana cultivation – which Community Development Director Rick Coel previously reported runs out on July 6 – and the implementation of Measure N.
Once it goes into effect, Measure N still has potential challenges on the horizon.
On May 20, the Emerald Unity Coalition submitted signatures in support of its “Medical Marijuana Control Act,” which it wants to place on the November ballot.
Unlike Measure N, the Medical Marijuana Control Act would allow growing within neighborhoods – up to four marijuana plants per parcel on properties of under an acre – and permits collective gardens of up to 48 plants on rural properties of five acres or more.
It would reduce the required distance between grows and schools and other facilities serving children to 600 feet – from the 1,000 feet required in Measure N – and has 100-foot setbacks from streams and water sources, which is identical to the distance required by Measure N.
The Medical Marijuana Control Act also establishes a medical marijuana enforcement officer position in the Community Development Department, with the hiring process requiring a public hearing and ratification by a majority vote of the Board of Supervisors. In addition, the measure proposes to place fees on collective grows to pay for the enforcement officer.
On May 27, Ron and Conrad Kiczenski of Lucerne submitted signatures for a competing initiative,
“The Freedom to Garden Human Rights Restoration Act of 2014,” which would allow unlimited numbers of plants to be grown.
That second measure also would exempt an individual's “home gardening efforts or abilities” from any limiting county permits or county ordinances, and offer little recourse for complaints outside of those “related to a specific medically verifiable toxic health risk.”
Valadez said each of the measures would need 2,115 valid signatures – or 10 percent of the voters who took part in the last gubernatorial election – to qualify to make it onto the November general election ballot.
She said she has 30 business days to certify signatures for both measures, work she is continuing while also conducting the official canvass and final count for Tuesday's primary.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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