Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jul 2016
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Note: Does not publish letters from outside their circulation area.
Author: Rory Appleton

COALINGA LEGALIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA CULTIVATION

City Also Sells Vacant Prison to Grower for $4.1 Million

Ordinances Lay Out Strict Requirements for Cultivation

The Coalinga City Council voted 4-1 on Thursday to immediately allow 
commercial marijuana cultivation within city limits.

Councilman Ron Lander cast the lone no vote. The ordinances required 
a four-fifths majority to pass.

The council also approved the sale of the city's dormant prison, 
Claremont Custody Center, to Ocean Grown Extracts for $4.1 million. 
Ocean Grown will transform the prison into a medical cannabis oil 
extraction manufacturing plant.

This sale will immediately bring Coalinga's general fund into the 
black. City Manager Marissa Trejo said Coalinga was between $3.3 and 
$3.8 million in debt.

All 33 public seats in the Coalinga City Council chambers were full 
as the council voted on the ordinances. After six months of fierce 
debate among the council and the city's residents, the audience was 
silent when Coalinga Mayor Ron Ramsay asked for public comment.

"It's like the Grateful Dead said: 'What a long strange trip it's 
been,' " Coalinga Mayor Pro-Tem Patrick Keough said in an interview 
after the vote. "We listened to the citizens and created a package 
that was reflective of our population."

Keough believes that the dozens of hours spent educating the 
community on the medical marijuana industry has changed the small 
town's way of thinking.

"You can never do anything that satisfies everyone," Keough said, 
"but we were pretty darn close to doing that."

The vote ends a long journey to medical cannabis legalization for the 
city of Coalinga.

The City Council unanimously approved medical marijuana cultivation, 
deliveries and dispensaries in January. The council backtracked 
slightly after a loud outcry emerged from church groups, community 
members, the Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District and Fresno 
County Sheriff Margaret Mims. After several months of special 
meetings and workshops designed to educate residents about the 
medical cannabis industry, it moved forward once more.

In March, the council began negotiating with medical cannabis oil 
manufacturer Ocean Grown Extracts for a deal that would sell an empty 
prison, the Claremont Custody Center, to the growers and allow them 
to operate in Coalinga. The deal as first proposed would pay the city 
around $2 million per year in rent and fees.

Later that month, the council voted 4-1 to create the ordinances 
necessary to cultivate marijuana within the city. City Attorney David 
Wolfe said it would take at least several months to draw up the new laws.

A possible ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries 
businesses that actually sell cannabis to patients  or deliveries to 
patients within Coalinga could be discussed later. Both remain 
illegal as of Thursday.

On June 23, Wolfe asked the council to approve urgency ordinances to 
legalize cultivation immediately. It will take time to retrofit 
Claremont into a cannabis oil manufacturing plant, he said. The 
ordinances would also allow Ocean Grown to begin hiring for the 100 
jobs it pledged to fill with local applicants.

Wolfe also expressed concern over Ocean Grown possibly lagging behind 
other established cultivators, who are already beefing up their 
operations in advance of a November ballot measure that would 
legalize recreational marijuana use in California.

On Thursday, Ocean Grown was all smiles. Co-owner Casey Dalton said 
she hopes the business will be up and running within six months.

"We're thrilled to be able to offer 100 jobs and make safe medicine 
available for patients," she said. "We appreciate Coalinga taking a 
chance not only on us, but on the industry."

Dalton said Ocean Grown received more than 200 applications from 
local residents during a recent job fair for its proposed cultivation 
operation.

Fellow Ocean Grown owner Kelly Dalton, Casey's brother, said the 
silent approval from the crowd showed that the community understands 
that medical cannabis is a medicine.

"The truth of the plant is our best evidence," he said.

The language of the new ordinances lays out strict requirements for 
Ocean Grown and any other companies interested in cultivating 
marijuana in Coalinga.

The owner must assume liability for the operation, meaning it would 
be solely responsible if the facility has any legal entanglements 
with individuals, law enforcement agencies or the U.S. government. 
Marijuana is federally illegal.

All employees and private contractors must pass a background check 
and receive a permit from the city in order to work at a cultivation 
site. The owner must keep all of this on file with the Coalinga 
Police Department.

The facility must be gated, locked and closed to the public. It must 
have 24-hour video surveillance, and the police department must have 
full access to video feeds.

Cultivation operations cannot post signage. They must also take odor 
control steps to keep any cannabis smell from escaping.

Electronic tracking devices must be fixed to all cannabis plants.

The operations must be in full compliance with all building and fire 
safety codes. All requirements must be checked off by the police 
chief, fire chief and city planner at least 60 days prior to opening.

Permits can be revoked if a business owner is not compliant. That 
owner can appeal any punishment with the City Council.

The ordinances also establish a property tax that will pay the city 
$25 per square foot for the first 3,000 square feet and $10 per 
square foot for any space after that for each medical marijuana 
cultivation. Claremont is about 77,000 square feet, but the city kept 
a portion of the prison grounds.

The new laws also note one potential snag for medical marijuana 
cultivators: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wrote the city a letter 
saying it will report Coalinga should any water be directed to the facility.

Wolfe said the city believes it is a lawful use of water, but it will 
deny Ocean Grown or any other cultivator city water should the 
federal government threaten to shut off the supply. He said the city 
would work with Ocean Grown to find a new water supply should this 
happen, but its new laws do not require the city to provide 
cultivators with water.

Huron could follow suit

According to the Huron City Council's monthly agenda, the council 
heard a medical marijuana presentation on July 6. Lake Tahoe defense 
attorney Jacqueline Mittelstadt and Dr. William Kerr explained why 
patients use medical cannabis.

Huron City Manager Jack Castro said the city has made no decision to 
move forward. It is still compiling information.

Huron is about 20 miles east of Coalinga in Fresno County.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom