Pubdate: Wed, 23 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 SUPES VOTE TO PUT REFERENDUM ON POT REGULATIONS ON NOVEMBER BALLOT Until the Vote Current Ordinance Is Suspended OROVILLE - Butte County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to put on the November ballot the dispute over the most recent iteration of the county's restrictions of cultivation medical marijuana. The vote was the reaction to a petition drive launched after the Feb. 11th vote by the board to approve new pot growing rules. The new ordinance, among other things, put limits on the allowable growing space within a marijuana garden. Depending on the acreage of a parcel, the prospective grower could have a garden of 50 square-feet to 150 square-feet. Opponents of the ordinance immediately launched a petition drive and on March 12 turned in more than 12,000 signatures to the county. On April 9, County Clerk/Recorder Candace Grubbs certified the petitions included 9,050 valid signatures, more than enough than to qualify the referendum. When the supervisors met Tuesday, state law gave them three ways to respond: rescind the ordinance, or put the referendum before the voters in a special election or regularly scheduled election. During the meeting a steady stream of people addressed the board. Some urged the board to rescind the current ordinance and immediately start work on a new one. After board chairman Paradise Supervisor Doug Teeter, closed the public portion of the hearing, Chico Supervisor Maureen Kirk said, "If we could come up with an ordinance that would make everybody happy, that would be great. I don't think there is a way to do it. I think we ought to let it go to people," she continued. Kirk then offered a motion to have the referendum put on the November ballot. Supervisor Steve Lambert, who lives on a ranch west of Oroville, said putting the referendum on the ballot means the people in favor of the measure and those who want stricter regulation of cannabis cultivation both will have an opportunity to get deeply involved in the process. The board voted unanimously to send the referendum to the November ballot Lambert, Kirk and Teeter all also said they are favor of permitting marijuana dispensaries back into the county. They said the dispensaries, which are essentially marijuana stores, can be regulated and would help to diminish problems created by gardens. Dispensaries were not on Tuesday's agenda. The existing ordinance is suspended until the election takes place. If the referendum wins the ordinance is voided. If the measure loses the ordinance goes into effect. In other business, the supervisors voted to give preliminary approval to an ordinance that will have the county Department of Public Health staff issue color-coded placards to restaurants as a result of their regular inspections. Under the new rules, after the inspection, the restaurant will receive a green, yellow, or red placard to post in the window. A green placard means there were no problems that require a follow-up visit. A yellow placard indicates there were problems that could be immediately remedied, but were serious enough to require a return visit from the health inspectors. After the second visit, which is supposed to happen the next day, if there are no further problems, the restaurant is given a green placard. Red placards are only issued when the problem is so severe it constitutes a threat to public health and the facility needs to be closed. Butte County's ordinance is patterned after a similar one that was established years ago in Sacramento County. Sacramento county statistics say that more than 94 percent of the inspections result in green placards, and about 4 percent get yellow placards that become green the next day. The ordinance will come back to the supervisors for a future final approval. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom