Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2013
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Ken Smith

A GRAND COMPROMISE

Activists From Both Sides Unite to Draft New County Medi-Pot Ordinance

Last August, after District Attorney Mike Ramsey declared the Butte 
County Board of Supervisors' second attempt at a medical-marijuana 
ordinance unconstitutional, a novel idea was proposed: form an ad-hoc 
committee with representatives from both sides to draft a 
middle-ground mandate.

With passions running high, it seemed likely such an adversarial 
body-composed of four activists from each side with several county 
officials in the wings-could do little more than sink further into 
the bureaucratic muck the board has been mired in for the last two 
years. But after a handful of meetings held each Friday for two 
months, the committee is putting the final touches on an ordinance 
that will be presented at the Feb. 12 supervisors' meeting.

"It's been interesting," said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer 
Sang Kim, who was present at each meeting and said the draft should 
be available to the public early next week. "There have been 
disagreements and people with very different perspectives, but they 
all worked really hard to come to an agreement.

"I believe when the final draft is put together it can truly be 
called a compromise, because there are aspects of this ordinance that 
each person dislikes," Kim continued. "But as a whole they can all 
live with it and all feel comfortable about recommending it to the 
board. It really has been a collaborative effort."

Other county representatives present at the meetings, which were 
organized by Chief Administrative Officer Paul Hahn and facilitated 
by Compliance Officer Marion Reeves, included Sheriff Jerry Smith and 
Tim Snellings, director of the Department of Development Services.

Ramsey and County Counsel Bruce Alpert were also present, and Kim 
said he is confident the new ordinance, if approved, will hold water 
legally: "It complies with everything we can and can't do in the 
state," he said. "Of course, the federal government still recognizes 
marijuana as a controlled substance, but the ordinance specifically 
deals with what we can do in the framework of the state of California."

Kim explained that, after the draft is read and recognized by the 
Board of Supervisors at the panel's upcoming meeting, it must be read 
again at the Feb. 26 meeting. After that, the board can accept, 
reject or modify the recommendation, and if approved it will go into 
effect 30 days later.

Matt Larkins, who with Robert MacKenzie, Andrew Merkel and Mark 
Sweany represented the pro-growers' side of the issue, praised the 
new draft, calling it "the most liberal in the state of California." 
Larkins is a member or officer in several pro-pot organizations, 
including Citizens for Compassionate Use, Save Butte Growers and the 
Western Plant Science Trade Association.

"We looked at a lot of other counties' ordinances, and ordinances 
that are currently in court," Larkins said. "You can compare it with 
Yuba, which just passed one, which at the time was probably the most 
liberal . but they might be looking to amend after they see this."

Larkins explained that the draft recognizes the difference between 
mature and immature (defined as non-flowering) plants and dictates 
the amount allowed based on property size. According to the latest 
draft he was citing, the smallest parcel-anything smaller than 
four-tenths of an acre-would allow six mature or 12 immature plants 
with a combined total of no more than 12, while the largest-parcels 
greater than 40 acres-allows for no more than 99 plants.

Part of the contention with the last attempted ordinance, adopted 
from Kings County and presented by Supervisor Larry Wahl, was the 
requirement that all marijuana cultivation be done indoors in a 
detached, dedicated structure. The new draft requires this only in 
the smallest parcels.

Larkins said other particulars separating this ordinance from those 
that have failed include its being complaint-driven and enforced 
civilly, rather than criminally. All enforcement will be carried out 
by compliance officers, and growers found out of compliance will be 
given 72 hours to fix their issues.

"If someone receives a complaint and is found to be in compliance, 
they can't get another complaint," he said. "Also, people who 
complain must be within 1,000 feet of the place they complain 
against. This is to stop the vigilante grandmas out there who just 
drive around looking for fences.

"Altogether, it's just what I like to think of as a good-neighbor 
ordinance," said Larkins, who admitted the meetings got very heated 
at times. "It stops the bitching on this side of the fence and the 
rubbing their noses in it on that side."

"No one is completely happy, but I think with the circumstances in 
this county, this is the best we're going to get at this time," said 
Patricia Vance, who alongside Tony Reis, Scott Armstrong and Linda 
Ames represented those in favor of a strict ordinance.

"At least we'll have something to work with, because some help is 
better than none for the Sheriff's Office, the D.A., compliance 
officers and for us," she said. "As it is, everyone has been so 
frustrated, people are angry and you've got neighbors fighting like 
dogs. This will at least help a lot of the problems."

Vance has been an outspoken critic of large growing operations and 
the environmental damage they have wrought in her community of Yankee 
Hill, on the banks of Lake Oroville, for several years. She said she 
was one of the last holdouts in giving approval to the draft, because 
she wanted it to address more environmental issues.

One part of the document she likes is a one-year residency 
requirement for growers, stating that many of the large grows doing 
the worst damage are by out-of-state residents. Larkins agrees on this point.

"The people really causing the complaints are people who come in and 
do seasonal farming, terrace the mountains, dump all their chemicals, 
ditch all their trash and leave us to answer for that the rest of the 
year," he said. "This will hopefully stop a lot of that."

Larkins and Vance also spoke highly of the county's mediator, Reeves, 
who was knowledgeable, unbiased and fair, they said.

Vance confirmed Larkins' statement that the meetings sometimes got 
heated: "There were things said toward me that were unpleasant, and I 
said some things toward them that were unpleasant, but it was all 
civilly done, and overall everyone was very professional," she said. 
"We had a tough job, but we did it."

"I just wish Congress could work as fast as we did," Larkins said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom