Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA) Copyright: 2013 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: Roger H. Aylworth ENFORCING BUTTE'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES: CODE OFFICERS SAY MOST GROWERS WANT TO COMPLY FOREST RANCH -- Roy Wallis and Nick Hoekstra are Butte County code enforcement officers who recently have spent much of their time investigating alleged violations of the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance. The officers, who are not police and have no law enforcement power, recently took an Enterprise-Record reporter and photographer on their rounds. As a precondition to joining them, the paper agreed not to give precise locations of the gardens or the names of the growers without the grower's specific consent. In most cases, according to the officers, they were greeted cordially by the growers they visited. At one site the officers were met by a grower who had several problems to deal with. The ordinance is specific on how many plants can be grown on what size lot. In this case, the grower had 98 plants on a lot that would allow only 48. The county also requires that a septic system be in place at each garden site and the grower has to be able to prove he or she has been a resident of Butte County for at least one year. This was the second visit to the grower and Wallis warned the young man the clock was running and if the various deficiencies weren't dealt with - the number of plants, the lack of a septic system and the inadequate fencing - he could face civil penalties. Hoekstra asked the grower how much time is he going to need to "reduce" the number of plants. "How much time can you give me?" asked the man. The code enforcement officer said the fixes have to be done before the case goes before a hearing officer. Once the hearing takes place, fees and other costs begin to mount. The grower said he just wanted to get the plants to harvest so people could "get their medicine and so people can do their research." On their next stop, the officers visited a beautifully manicured, upscale home with an equally pristinely tended marijuana garden. The problem was an inadequate screening fence. Wallis walked the grower to one corner of the garden and pointed to a roughly 30-foot section of the property line where more screening was needed. "Take my word for it. We'll get it done," said the elderly grower. Then he told Wallis and Hoekstra to come back after their next visit and the last of the fencing would be in place. The next stop was to inspect an indoor grow. The code allows for any number of plants to be grown in a free-standing building that covers no more than 120 square feet. When the code enforcers first checked on this operation, they found 50 plants growing inside a structure about the size of a two-car garage, far too large a building. This time every plant had been removed from the building. The nearby outdoor grow was down to 47 plants. The 48th had succumbed to gophers. The garden was located in such a way that natural contours of the land and local vegetation screened the property perfectly. It was handshakes all around when the officers said the garden was in complete compliance with the regulations. "I'm definitely not here to cause any problems for you guys," said the grower as he escorted Wallis and Hoekstra to their car. The pair went back to the high-end property before heading back to their office, and true to the owner's word, the fencing was done. On their drive back to the valley, the pair said they have been to gardens where they felt ill at ease, but they never had been threatened. They said in the vast majority of the cases they had investigated, the growers were polite and happy to comply with the rules. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom