CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake is moving toward an all-out ban on the cultivation of marijuana, medicinal or otherwise.
The city council directed legal staff Thursday to draft an ordinance that would prohibit the growing of all marijuana within city limits and provide for abatement of cultivation activities.
“I want to be compassionate but it has gotten out of control,” Mayor Denise Loustalot said.
Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen provided the council with a report concerning police services associated with marijuana cultivation.
He said while calls for service are tracked in such a way that discerning actual marijuana-related incidents is not possible, the number of compliance checks conducted by officers can be calculated.
The compliance checks performed all were found to be in violation of the city's ordinance, in which the number of plants allowed is determined by the size of the property, Clausen said.
The city does not have a means of tracking the number of medical marijuana cultivation operations that are in compliance because such activities do not require a permit, Loustalot added.
Clausen said marijuana-related calls have resulted in incidents up to and including homicide, kidnapping, assault and recovery of weapons.
He said there was a recent incident that involved a shooting in which an AK-47 was used and later recovered by police.
“Officers spend two to five hours per day (on marijuana-related issues) either conducting compliance checks or through calls for service,” he said. “There is a direct cost associated with this.”
City Finance Director Chris Becnel provided the council with an assumption of costs associated with law enforcement activities related to marijuana cultivation.
Becnel estimated a $113,000 expense to the city in a seven-month period based on an estimate of total cost of an incident including police response, investigation, administrative and court expenses.
Compliance checks by officers – assuming an hour per call, plus the cost to fully burden a police officer II (at an estimated $74 per hour) – total $10,582 in a six-month period, according to Becnel's calculations.
Calls for code enforcement, assuming two hours per call and the full burden of a code enforcement officer (at an estimated $42 per hour), total $9,450 in a six-month period, Becnel said.
Becnel estimated police officer time – in a seven-month period, assuming two to four hours per call and the full burden of a police officer II – to be between $62,160 to $93,240.
Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta also provided the council with an informational presentation concerning health and other hazards related to indoor growing operations prior to the council rendering direction.
Sapeta emphasized the negative long-term, accumulative effect conditions could have on firefighters, residents of the home and the environment including, but not limited to, a myriad of breathing disorders.
Citing indoor cultivation of marijuana as a relatively new situation, Sapeta said the long-term effects have not been precisely determined yet.
Sapeta said health hazards include response to a concealed operation in which responders are unaware of the conditions.
He said ventilation is often inadequate causing concern for airborne pathogens, including mold and fungus spores, that could cause long term health damage.
Sapeta said the district is seeing health problems arise in people who, often unknowingly, move into a house that formerly was used as an indoor growing operation.
He said that homes are porous, retaining mold and fungus spores in the walls that are later released with heat and moisture.
One incident Sapeta shared involved an entire household that became sick after a few months of living in such a home. He said the family was healthy until the weather changed and use of the heater began.
Improper electrical installation and makeshift carbon dioxide concentrators present further concern for indoor growing operations, Sapeta said. As a result indoor growing activities, there have been multiple cases of fire within in the district.
Another concern is for the misuse of chemicals and fertilizers and the improper disposal of such, he said.
Community, council members weigh in
A dozen people from the public spoke to the issue with eight conveying support of a complete ban and five urging the council to strengthen its current ordinance.
Those speaking in favor of a ban on marijuana cultivation cited concerns such as depletion in air quality, a rise in violent criminal activity, property damage, safety of children and cross contamination by those carrying the hazardous spores on their clothing.
Mark Illia, who is asthmatic and works for an area water company, said he has developed the “knock and walk” technique when a service call requires contact at a home.
“I knock and I take a few steps back,” he said. “You don't know what is going to come out of that door. It could be the odor and those pathogens or it could be a shotgun.”
One woman said she fears for children who may get into someone's growing site.
Richard Birk, president of Habitat for Humanity, said the organization recently experienced a situation in which donated land was found to be the site of an illegal growing operation.
“The property owner didn't know it was there,” he said.
Pete Loustalot said restricting the number of plants allowed to just six would not solve the odor problem.
He said his neighbor went from 14 to six plants but the plants were bigger, resulting in the same amount of odor.
“I think the only way to get control of this is to go down to zero,” he said.
Adelia Leonard pleaded with the council to consider the medical needs of her son, who is treated with marijuana for epileptic seizures.
She said she grows her six plants in compliance with the city ordinance.
“The criminals don't care what you do. Just because how bad this year went, you're going to punish the legitimate people,” she asked. “Have some compassion. Work with us. The criminals, cut down their plants.”
“My grandson was traumatized over six plants,” Ed Wynn said. “Yes, there are some big grows and we need to do something about them. But, people need their medicine. There needs to be compassion. There are too many bias people.”
Former Councilman Joey Luiz said he agreed the current ordinance “needs more teeth” but that he thought a fair compromise was reached with the public in developing it.
He urged the council against driving growing operation indoors where the potential for improper conditions exist.
“It's not going away and in my new position, I will be looking at tax issues on the state level,” he said. “It's happening. We need to find a way to make this thing work.”
Councilwoman Joyce Overton said most of the people growing are not doing it for medical reasons.
“It's for money,” she said. “We need to step back and go to a 'no grow' until the state defines how to do this. Let's stop this. I think it's gone too far.”
Councilman Russ Perdock said he favored a ban on cultivation. He said 100-percent of the people he spoke with on his door-to-door election campaign said they wanted something done about the abundance of large marijuana grows.
Councilman Bruno Sabatier said he recognized the large amount of illegal growing operations in the city and that many are not for medicinal reasons.
Sabatier said he would like to see the city's ordinance strengthened, focusing on large-scale operations. He said the city failed by not enforcing the current ordinance.
“We cannot let law abiding citizens lose their rights because we didn't do our jobs and enforce the law,” Sabatier said.
Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson asked what greater power would the police have if the ordinance was dropped to zero.
Clausen said the problem with the current ordinance is that it does not contain an abatement order and that it is a civil ordinance with a civil process that includes only administrative penalties.
Fortino Dickson said an influx of nonresidents who came to the area specifically to grow marijuana following the county and Lakeport's tighter restrictions compounds the city of Clearlake's problem.
“Prop. 215 does exist and it exists for reason – for people who need it,” she said.
City Attorney Ryan Jones said the city has a broad scope of options in dealing with the cultivation of medical marijuana.
He said the city could reduce the number of plants allowed, restrict growing to indoors or ban growing completely.
Jones said staff recommended a complete ban.
He is expected to have a draft ordinance to ban marijuana cultivation ready for the council's consideration by its next regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Email Denise Rockenstein at
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