CLEARLAKE, Calif. – At what is believed to be its longest meeting in more than a decade, the Clearlake City Council on Thursday night voted to approve the first reading of a strict ordinance that would ban all marijuana growing in the city.
After five hours of discussion and public comment, the vote was 4-1, with Bruno Sabatier – one of the newest council members – the lone dissenter.
More than 220 people packed the Clearlake Senior Community Center on Bowers Avenue, where city officials had moved the meeting, expecting a larger crowd than the council chambers at city hall could accommodate.
During the meeting, the council heard about three hours of public comment, with community members each given two minutes to speak.
Crafted by City Attorney Ryan Jones, the 13-page ordinance prohibits all marijuana cultivation – indoor, outdoor, medicinal or otherwise, by individuals, collectives or dispensaries – in any part of the city.
That makes it a more strict ordinance than the city of Lakeport's – which went into effect in July 2013, bans outdoor grows but allows grows within special accessory structures – and the county's Ordinance No. 2997, passed last June as Measure N. It bans outdoor cultivation in community growth boundaries but allows for grows on parcels larger than one acre outside of neighborhoods as well as indoor grows of less than 100 square feet.
The city of Clearlake's new proposed ordinance would override one that went into effect in January 2014 and was modeled on a previous county ordinance.
The city's current ordinance prohibits commercial grows and grows on vacant lots, and limits the number of plants to six on parcels smaller than a half acre and as many as 48 plants on properties 40 acres or larger.
Sabatier offered an alternative ordinance on Thursday night that would have allowed up to three plants.
However, his fellow council members chose to accept Jones’ version instead.
Councilman Russ Perdock said the city’s looser restrictions drew people to Clearlake to grow marijuana, leading to the current situation.
He said the city needs to start anew. “We need a safe city.”
Councilwoman Gina Fortino Dickson said neighbors needed to work together and communicate.
“At this point we have to take our city back,” and not allow large growers and cartels to abuse the community, she said.
She added, “Right now, I feel like we need to do something drastic.”
The proposed ordinance now will head to a second and final vote at the council's Feb. 26 meeting.
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021214 Clearlake City Council - Proposed ordinance to ban marijuana cultivation by LakeCoNews