CLEARLAKE, Calif. – After four months of lengthy meetings, extensive revisions, legal threats and disagreements with community members as well as each other, the Clearlake City Council on Thursday night gave final approval to an ordinance to establish new rules – and enforcement procedures – for medical marijuana cultivation in the city.
After less than 15 minutes of review and discussion with staff and some questions from community members, the council voted unanimously for the final version of Ordinance No. 175-2015, which will go into effect in 30 days.
At the start of the year, the council had directed staff to come back with an ordinance banning all marijuana growing in the city.
Council members were concerned about the escalating number of marijuana grows in the city, particularly last summer.
With residents in the unincorporated county passing Measure N last June – it prohibits outdoor grows in neighborhoods – and with such outdoor grows already banned in Lakeport, Clearlake was left with the least-stringent rules in the county.
Based on council direction, City Attorney Ryan Jones in February presented the council with the no-grow ordinance. That led to two marathon meetings at the city's senior center, with the council passing the ordinance at the end of that month.
It was challenged by a referendum that narrowly qualified for the ballot – by a mere five signatures – and also led to the filing of a lawsuit against the city.
At the start of May, the council rescinded that ordinance and asked staff to come back with revised rules based on the city's 2013 marijuana cultivation ordinance, which was similar to a county ordinance that had been replaced by Measure N.
The first draft of Clearlake's newest marijuana cultivation ordinance proposed to reduce plant numbers on all parcel sizes to six, but at the council's last meeting in May council members expressed concern about taking that action in the middle of the growing season.
The latest version Jones presented on Thursday put the numbers back to those established in the 2013 ordinance: six plants on parcels of half an acre or under, 12 plants on half an acre to an acre, 18 plants on an acre to five acres, 36 plants on parcels of between five and 40 acres, and 48 plants on parcels 40 acres or larger.
Differentiating it from the preceding ordinance is that the newest rules include enforcement and summary abatement, which had not been included in the 2013 document.
In going over the updates on Thursday, Jones explained the six-plant limit had been replaced by the 2013 numbers and a grandfather clause that had applied to grows within 600 feet of child care centers had been removed.
Jones said the document's statement of intent also was changed from being prohibitive to regulatory, “hazardous condition” is defined and the length of time for abating nuisances was reduced from 15 days to 10 days.
The council had discussed height restrictions, but Jones said he deleted a paragraph about a 6-foot height limit for plants as the ordinance already speaks to the need for screening plants from view.
He said the ordinance before the council was drafted to reflect the direction he received.
City resident Dave Hughes urged the city “to get on with it” and pass the document.
Jones told the council, “This is an ordinance that is really for this grow season, for this period of time.”
He said the city is looking at appointing an ad hoc committee to work with the public on what they want to do going forward.
“Amending, revising, drafting a new ordinance is something that would be discussed by this ad hoc committee going forward. This is the ordinance for us today,” Jones said.
Only one council member – Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson – offered any statements to staff during the brief discussion.
“I think this is a terrific stop gap. I think this provides the necessary teeth in order to enforce this ordinance this growing season,” Fortino Dickson said.
She said what the city chooses to do in the future with an ad hoc committee will be different from the ordinance before the council Thursday night. “This serves our purpose for right now.”
She moved to approve the ordinance, with Councilman Russ Perdock seconding and the council voting 5-0.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Clearlake City Council gives final approval to updated marijuana cultivation rules
- Elizabeth Larson
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