Pubdate: Thu, 30 May 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: Tom Gascoyne

POT GRADES

County Wants State's Help in Controlling Marijuana Gardens

A request by Butte County for help from the state in getting a handle
on large marijuana gardens in the local foothills has been rebuffed.
On May 7, a letter signed by Supervisor Bill Connelly was sent to the
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board expressing concern
about environmental damage caused by big pot-growing operations. The
letter asked that the state step in and help enforce the federal Clean
Water Act.

"Butte County has its share of large marijuana grow sites," the letter
reads. "The development of these sites ha[s], in many cases, disturbed
over one acre of soil and include[s] buildings and other improvements
that support these large marijuana-growing operations without proper
local and state permits."

The letter points out that the state regulates mining, industrial and
construction operations with strict guidelines, and that the same
should be done for large marijuana gardens.

But Ken Landau, the assistant executive officer for the RWQCB, said in
a May 24 phone interview that the board will not get directly involved
in policing pot farms.

"Yes, there is a real issue with these marijuana operations," he said.
"However, our staff are not armed peace officers, and we cannot be
sending them into places where their lives will be at risk. We will
provide technical support on evaluating things, but they simply can't
be out on the front lines going into these places."

The RWQCB's response to the county's request had not yet been sent,
Landau said. When contacted, Tom Fossum, land-development manager for
the county's Department of Public Works, said that since he had not
yet seen the response, he could not comment.

On May 7, Fossum presented the Butte County Board of Supervisors with
a verbal report and slideshow on the matter. "This past spring, we've
seen quite a bit of grading in the foothills, much of it without
permits," Fossum told the board.

"We've been asking the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control
Board for their support in enforcing some of the rules that we believe
they are required to [enforce]." He said a lack of support from the
state-because the RWQCB considers the grows to be agricultural
operations-was an ongoing problem.

"We believe these operations are just like any other business
operation that is required to have a structure stormwater permit and,
if need be, an industrial stormwater permit," Fossum said.

He showed aerial photos of graded acres-and, in some cases,
greenhouses under construction-in the Paradise, Magalia and Concow
areas, as well as land near Forbestown and Feather Falls.

A site off Jordan Hill Road, east of Paradise and near the Feather
River, was discovered in early April. Fossum said his department
estimates more than about 2,150 cubic yards of soil have been moved,
violating the county's limit of displacing 1,000 cubic yards without a
permit, as called for in the county's grading ordinance that was
adopted in 2009. Even so, a project that involves excavating more than
50 cubic yards requires the landowner to first apply for an exemption.

A second site on the same piece of property includes a freshly plowed
road and more than 1,000 cubic yards of excavated soil.

To the south, off Crystal Ranch Road near Lake Oroville, is a site
where a significant amount of erosion took place over the winter;
eroded material from the site could make its way to the creeks that
feed the lake, Fossum pointed out.

None of the sites have residences on them, he said, but some do have
motor homes, travel trailers and greenhouses, including one that
measures 70 feet long and 20 feet wide. At that site, off Lakeview
Terrace near Feather Falls, 10,000 cubic yards of soil have been
moved, burying tree trunks up to 15 feet deep.

Supervisor Maureen Kirk said the RWQCB would not hesitate to go after
a builder who had made such violations, and called the situation
"incredible." Supervisor Larry Wahl asked if the Department of Public
Works had shut down any of the operations. Fossum said it was in the
process of doing so, but could certainly use the state's help.

Mike Crump, the county's director of public works, said the RWQCB has
ignored the county's requests for help.

"We've worked with the local office [in Redding], and they sent it up
the chain and we have not really heard any response," he said. "They
are kind of saying, 'We think it's ag and so they are exempt.' We
haven't really received any reason. Hopefully with a letter they'll
take this seriously and start enforcing the rules that they are making
everybody else comply with. If nothing else, maybe we'll get a better
reason of why they chose not to go after this."

Crump said his department is trying to control the gardens by
enforcing the county's soil-grading ordinance, and that the Butte
County District Attorney's Office is looking into possible
environmental violations.

"But we think the state should be a partner in this," he
said.

Supervisor Connelly also expressed frustration.

"I don't understand why the state won't step in like they would if it
was a developer or a contractor or the county," he said. "They've come
after us for building a road. I just don't understand why they are not
helping."

Local environmental activist Kelly Meagher, a strong supporter of the
value of medicinal marijuana, finds himself in an ironic position with
the matter. More than 20 years ago he chained himself to a gate in
protest of grading near his home in Butte Creek Canyon.

"A developer was so upset with the county he just thought he'd knock
all these big trees down and make holes in the ground," Meagher
recalled. "I had to chain myself to a gate, and the county came up
with a really wimpy grading ordinance for the foothills."

He said the local farmers objected to such an ordinance, which led to
the ag exemption.

"They've adopted a new one, but it's obvious it doesn't address these
kinds of issues," he said.

Meagher's seen the photos, and questions if the sites are all for pot
gardens.

"If it's true, and they want to grow dope and damage the environment,
then they are frickin' idiots," he said. "I am totally opposed to what
they are doing."
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