Pubdate: Wed, 16 Apr 2014
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2014 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 Aylworth

REFERENDUM TO BLOCK MOST RECENT BUTTE POT GROWING RULES CERTIFIED

Referendum Certified; Butte Supervisors Can Rescind Rule or Put 
Question to a Vote

OROVILLE - A referendum petition aimed at blocking Butte County's 
most recently enacted marijuana cultivation rules has been certified 
as having enough signatures to be valid.

The referendum targets parts of the cultivation ordinance passed in 
February that limits the size of a marijuana garden. The rule allows 
gardens from 50 square-feet to 150 square-feet depending on the size 
of the parcel, and also sets minimum setbacks between the garden and 
the property line, again depending on the lot size.

With the petition certified, the question of what to do with the 
referendum will go to the Butte County Board of Supervisors at the 
panel's regular meeting Tuesday.

Under state law the board has three options. It can vote to rescind 
the ordinance immediately, put the measure before county voters 
during the November general election, or have a special election on the matter.

The county is predicting that putting the referendum on the November 
ballot would cost about $50,000.

The opponents of the ordinance said the rules governing the size of 
allowable gardens are too restrictive.

Almost immediately after the supervisors adopted the ordinance in 
February, an organization calling itself Butte County Citizens 
Against Irresponsible Government launched the referendum.

On March 12, petitioners delivered boxes containing petitions 
carrying more than 12,000 signatures on them to the county offices in Oroville.

According to an April 9 letter signed by County Clerk/Recorder 
Candace J. Grubbs, the county's chief election officer, 9,050 
signatures were verified. The petition had to have at least 7,605.

This is not the first time Butte County has been through this process 
related to medical marijuana.

In May 2011, after months of often loud and hostile hearings, the 
supervisors adopted a marijuana cultivation ordinance that among 
other things said no plants could be grown on a lot smaller than a 
half-acre. The number of plants allowed increased with a parcel's 
size up to a maximum of 99 on sites larger than 160 acres.

That ordinance was the target of a successful referendum, and 
supervisors voted to put the issue on the June 2012 primary election ballot.

Nearly 56 percent of those voting, 27,701 people, voted against the 
county's ordinance, with 22,722 votes or 45 percent in support

Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the County 
Administration Building at 25 County Center Drive, in Oroville.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom