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Opponents To Butte Marijuana Cultivation Law Deliver
Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Author: Roger Aylworth
OPPONENTS TO BUTTE MARIJUANA CULTIVATION LAW DELIVER PETITIONS
Goal Is to Abolish Existing Ordinance
OROVILLE - Opponents to Butte County's recently passed medical
marijuana cultivation ordinance delivered petitions with 12,262
signatures on them in hopes they will lead to the abolition of the
rule.
The petitions, which were brought into the Butte County administrative
office in Oroville, arrived just two hours before the 5 p.m. deadline
Wednesday. If the petitions had not arrived by the deadline the entire
drive would have been voided.
If at least 7,605 of the signatures are certified as valid, the
petitions will force Butte County's supervisors to either on their own
vote to rescind the ordinance or to place the referendum before county
voters.
The county has 30 days to certify the signatures. During that time the
ordinance is not enforced.
On Feb. 11, the supervisors unanimously approved an amended marijuana
cultivation ordinance. The ordinance didn't set any limits on the
number of plants that could be grown in outside gardens, but it
restricted the size of the gardens and required they be placed a
certain distance from property lines.
Under those regulations a garden on a lot of more than a half-acre but
less than five acres could have only 50 square-feet of growing space,
which must be at least 50 feet from the nearest property line.
The allowable garden spaces grew with the number of acres in the
property and topped out at a maximum size of 150 square-feet on a
parcel of 10 acres or more. A garden on that big a lot had to be 150
feet from the nearest property line.
At that meeting Andrew Merkel, a medical marijuana advocate who helped
craft an earlier cultivation ordinance that was passed in February of
2013, warned the supervisors they would face a referendum over the new
rules.
Wednesday Merkel was one of half a dozen people who delivered the
signed petitions to the county offices.
He said the petition supporters had paid a professional firm about
$65,000 to get the necessary petitions signed in the allowed 30 days.
He said the 30-day drive was a challenge, because of weather and
alleged interference by people who opposed the referendum.
Denice Lessard, who carried the box containing the petitions into the
county offices, said she was a "patient" signer of the petition.
She said she got involved because she was "afraid of people taking
away my ability to get my medicine."
Ron Halvorson, a former Assembly of God pastor, said, while the
ordinance does not prohibit the growing of marijuana in the county's
jurisdiction, the garden sizes were too small for people to be able to
grow the marijuana they need.
If the petitions are certified by the county elections office, the
matter will go to a future meeting of the supervisors for action.
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