More marijuana growers than Starbucks stores? That could be Sacramento's future. Someday soon, more businesses could grow marijuana in the city of Sacramento than there are Starbucks and McDonald's restaurants combined. More than 100 businesses are seeking special permits from the city to run indoor marijuana growing operations. From North Sacramento to South Land Park, and from downtown to the warehouse district near Power Inn Road, the flood of applications touches many corners of the city. For now, the applications technically cover marijuana for medicinal purposes, and some companies are already growing pot for that purpose under previously approved guidelines. However, commercial production and the sale of recreational pot will be allowed in California beginning Jan. 1, 2018 and city officials expect many of the new businesses will seek to enter that business. [continues 1030 words]
The old Craftsman bungalow at 3015 H St. is directly across the street from McKinley Montessori, a quaint little nursery school and kindergarten. It's also about 200 feet from McKinley Park and not even two blocks from Sutter Middle School. That's all worth mentioning because the business inside the old bungalow sells marijuana. And so when the operators of A Therapeutic Alternative went to the City Council last week seeking a permit that would allow them to stick around, you might have expected an angry resistance. Would you want your kid going to school across the street from a pot shop? [continues 395 words]
Following a statewide trend, the Sacramento City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night outlawing the outdoor cultivation of medicinal marijuana in residential neighborhoods. After nearly an hour of testimony, the council followed through on a vote last month signaling its intent to join Elk Grove and other cities around California that are placing tighter restrictions on marijuana cultivation. The council voted 6-2 to enact the ban. Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, the chief proponent of the ban, said outdoor cultivation had led to crime and fear in her northern Sacramento district. [continues 318 words]
Saying the practice has become a magnet for crime and a nuisance to neighbors, the Sacramento City Council moved forward Tuesday with prohibiting outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana within the city limits. Following nearly two hours of debate, the council voted 8-1 to direct city staffers to draft an ordinance that would outlaw the outdoor growing. That ordinance will come back to the City Council for final approval. Councilman Steve Cohn was the lone "no" vote on the matter. The council also voted to keep in place existing location restrictions on medical marijuana dispensaries. Those restrictions prohibit the shops from operating within 1,000 feet of other dispensaries, 300 feet from residences and 600 feet from schools and parks. [continues 423 words]
With legal uncertainty swirling around the issue, the city of Sacramento formally entered a holding pattern on its issuance of medical marijuana permits Tuesday night in a move that advocates said could help save the industry in the city. Last month, City Manager John Shirey ordered a "temporary freeze" on new permits for medical marijuana dispensaries as federal authorities launched a series of crackdowns on the facilities around the state. At least three Sacramento dispensaries have been investigated by federal drug enforcement agents. [continues 260 words]
Sacramento City Hall isn't going to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in the city. But that doesn't mean there's going to be one on every street corner. In fact, city officials suspect the number of facilities will likely go down from the 39 that are registered today, in large part because of a series of tight restrictions the City Council favors placing on the dispensaries. The council directed city staffers Tuesday night to draft an ordinance that would prohibit dispensaries within 500 feet of "youth-oriented facilities" such as parks, schools and day-care centers. The facilities also would have to be at least 500 feet from churches and substance abuse centers, and 1,000 feet from other dispensaries. [continues 388 words]
The Sacramento City Council is weighing a November ballot measure that would levy a special tax on marijuana and increase annual fees paid by businesses. The council will debate at its Tuesday meeting whether the city attorney should draft a ballot measure to phase in an increase of the business occupancy tax and create a new business tax category for pot. The pot fee would apply not only to medical marijuana dispensaries, but also to any business that would be permitted if a statewide ballot measure legalizing marijuana, which is also on the November ballot, is approved. [continues 709 words]
The City Council voted Tuesday night to place a 45-day moratorium on medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city while officials explore stricter regulations on the businesses. Under the emergency ordinance, passed unanimously, no new dispensaries will be permitted to open, and those businesses already open will be prohibited from expanding. "It's kind of a timeout," said Assistant City Manager Gus Vina. City officials estimate roughly two dozen medicinal marijuana shops are operating in Sacramento, but the exact number is unknown. [continues 80 words]
Officials in Sacramento are a bit dazed and confused over all the medicinal marijuana shops that have popped up in the city. While the estimates of how many facilities are now open in the city range from 15 to 28, the number has clearly grown in recent months, both council members and marijuana advocates say. As a result, the city is considering whether it's time to place a temporary moratorium on the facilities while stricter regulations are put in place. [continues 599 words]
Plants Limited To 2nd Floor Of Homes To Boost Secrecy. Elk Grove police uncovered another network of marijuana-growing houses dotting the city's suburban neighborhoods Wednesday, and authorities said the targets of this operation had learned key camouflage lessons from the busts of dozens of others over the past year. As police raided 21 homes and confiscated more than 6,100 plants, $200,000 in cash, 10 vehicles and sophisticated growing equipment, investigators were struck by the amount of effort that had gone toward disguising the operations. [continues 745 words]
Ownership overlaps in homes raided as marijuana factories. The 21 houses sit on quiet residential streets with names like Tundra Swan Circle and Summer Glen Way -- places where organized youth soccer is the norm, not organized crime. The homes, outwardly no different from other models in their tracts, all were purchased in Sacramento County in the past 18 months. Nobody moved in, but every window was quickly sealed off. Their neighbors were mystified, and some notified police. Thanks to their alertness, police raided each of the 21 homes over the last two months, finding a total of 14,000 marijuana plants. Over the course of a year, those plants would have produced an estimated $56 million worth of pot. [continues 1540 words]
Raids: Further Busts Expected The raid of an alleged marijuana growing operation in Rancho Cordova on Friday was the latest in a record year of plant seizures in California, authorities said. Police confiscated at least 100 relatively young marijuana plants during an early afternoon raid on Aboto Way, said Reuben Meeks, Rancho Cordova police chief and commander of the Sacramento County Sheriff's East Division. The raid follows a pattern in the Sacramento region of growing operations inside homes allegedly run by suspects from the Bay Area. [continues 579 words]
Police Vow A Crackdown On Criminal Activity After The Shooting Of A Cop During A Marijuana Bust "We are going to hit the hell out of it," a police source said. "When anything like that happens, you declare war on the area. And anything goes." Detective Victor Villareal, a 10-year veteran of the Police Department, was shot in the left hand during a 5:23 p.m. struggle with a man police said was smoking pot inside 1077 Castleton Ave., a part of the housing complex one police official described as "a big-time drug building." [continues 586 words]
