Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jan 2016
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Ryan Olson

BUTTE COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO CONSIDER CHANGES TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA 
GROWING RULES TUESDAY

Oroville - Following the first year of enforcing the size of medical 
marijuana grows, the Butte County Board of Supervisors will consider 
making changes Tuesday.

At 1 p.m., the board will hear a review of last year's enforcement, 
whose costs were 57 percent of the budgeted $658,346, according to a 
staff report. The county's expenses were further reduced by $171,175 
in collected fines. However, an additional $2.76 million in 
uncollected fines may not be paid.

Supervisors will consider amendments to the county's medical 
marijuana cultivation ordinance, approved by voters in 2014 as 
Measure A. The ordinance sets growing dimensions based on lot size, 
ranging from 50 square feet for lots between a half-acre to 5 acres 
to 150 square feet for properties larger than 10 acres. According to 
a summary, the changes are intended to clarify and streamline 
enforcement rules.

The board will also consider changing the county's right to farm 
ordinance in light of new state laws covering the cultivation, 
processing and distribution of medical marijuana. While the new laws 
call for marijuana to be treated as an agricultural commodity, it is 
proposed that the county exclude the plant and marijuana cultivation 
from the right to farm rules.

The ordinance was established to limit situations where land being 
used for agriculture is considered a nuisance when applying county rules.

The proposed change states that marijuana is different from other 
crops. During several public meetings, residents said grows in 
residential areas were invitations for theft. The county also 
responds to numerous calls involving illegal cultivation, 
distribution and sale of the drug.

According to county staff, code enforcement received 1,489 complaints 
about medical marijuana cultivation and closed 67 percent of them 
because the subject was either compliant with the rules or came into 
compliance. The county says enforcement efforts led to the 
destruction of 34,556 plants.

Staff issued 894 citations for violating the ordinance, leading to 
$2.93 million in fines. Less than 6 percent of fines had been 
collected and officials cautioned that most of the remainder may not 
be collected because either the grower has left the area or failed to 
respond to requests for payment.

The county was prepared to hold nuisance abatement hearings for 44 
cases, but 25 were resolved when the grower came into compliance. The 
county prevailed in 18 of the 19 cases that were heard.

While investigating the complaints, officials found other code 
violations. That led to non-marijuana code cases increasing 60 
percent last year.

To help, development services hired six extra-help code enforcement 
officers and two administrative staff. The work also included 
coordination with several other county departments including the 
county counsel, district attorney, the sheriff's office, public works 
and public health.

For the 2015 growing season, the county appropriated $658,346 to 
implement the program. Development services reported spending 
$373,996. It didn't count staff time from other departments or 
management oversight because such costs were already included in the budget.

County staff has proposed several amendments to the marijuana 
cultivation ordinance. One would merge the citation and nuisance 
abatement process by notifying the grower that they are subject to 
fines of $500 per day when given a 72-hour notice to abate. That 
daily fine would increase to $1,000 when a nuisance abatement hearing 
notice is posted.

Currently, when a matter goes to hearing, the county had to show the 
violation still existed. Staff is requesting to change this so the 
county only has to prove the violation existed when the hearing date was set.

Another change would clarify that the county could recover 
administrative penalties through a lien on the affected property. It 
may currently recover administrative and abatement costs.

The supervisors meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the County 
Administration Building, 25 County Center Drive, Oroville. The 
marijuana items are a timed item set to begin at 1 p.m.

[sidebar]

Know and Go

What: Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting.

When: 9 a.m., Tuesday (marijuana discussion begins at 1 p.m.).

Where: County Administration Building, 25 County Center Drive, Oroville.

Online: Meeting information is at tinyurl.com/buttesupervisors.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom