Petaluma grappling with rules on growing pot

Clint Mason described the smell as “unbearable.” Since one of his neighbors started growing marijuana in the yard, the Petaluma resident said he has been embarrassed to invite friends over to his house.

His bedroom, family room and kitchen overlook the neighbor’s backyard. Mason said he’s counted roughly two dozen mature leafy marijuana plants in the garden, where a pitbull stands guard day and night.

“Not only (do) our rear-facing windows look directly out at these plants growing over the fence line, we are forced to smell the strong skunklike odor for months at a time,” he said in an email.

Mason said he and other neighbors fear the pot garden puts their block at risk of burglaries and robberies.

“The current outdoor growing has ruined the quality of life for ourselves and other close-by neighbors,” he said.

Petaluma officials say they’ve received numerous complaints about odor, late-night traffic and crimes involving growing sites throughout the city.

To curtail the impacts on neighborhoods, council members are considering joining Cloverdale in banning outdoor pot gardens, a move marijuana advocates say they will challenge.

“What we’re dealing with is potentially criminal operations in neighborhoods. The medical marijuana user or even the small grower who is a recreational user is not the problem,” Councilman Dave King said earlier this week during a workshop where he and fellow council members weighed in on a possible ordinance that would prohibit growing pot outdoors.

It would restrict indoor medical marijuana sites to no more than 100 square feet and prohibit the use of gas products and grow lights that exceed 1,200 watts. Council members also are looking at banning growing in living spaces such as bedrooms and family rooms, which would limit growing areas to garages and sheds.

The proposed regulations would give law enforcement tools to deal with neighbors’ nuisance complaints, officials said.

Residents currently can grow as much medical marijuana as their doctors recommend, Police Chief Patrick Williams said. The city doesn’t have any rules on where and how much a patient can grow, he said.

Nor does it prohibit a resident from using their entire house as a growing operation, Lt. Ken Savano said in a phone interview. That lack of regulations is creating a problem for neighborhoods, he contended.

“It’s basically running rampant. We’re fielding calls every other day,” Savano said.

“It really starts to take away from the feeling of public safety,” he added. “We’re trying to get that under control so we at least have regulatory authority to limit what people are doing.”

California voters approved the use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation nearly two decades ago. However, some argue that medical recommendations are easy to obtain, blurring the line between medical and recreational use.

Sarah Shrader, Sonoma County chairwoman for Americans for Safe Access, which advocates to safeguard medicinal cannabis use, said patients have a right to grow what they need and that the proposed regulations will unfairly limit access for patients who need it.

“For a city council to say you’re not allowed to have what you’re doctor says you need … that is unconstitutional,” she argued.

Santa Rosa doesn’t have any regulations that restrict medical marijuana cultivation, but defers to county and state laws.

Sonoma County officials said residents can grow medicinal marijuana in unincorporated areas of the county as long as the zoning allows for planting of any kind. The county doesn’t distinguish between tomatoes, potatoes or pot when it comes to plants, officials said.

County supervisors have been studying how to address problems associated with pot while protecting patients’ access to medicinal cannabis. It could include tightening the county regulations surrounding cultivation, which the board failed to do two years ago after an uproar from medical marijuana advocates.

Closer to Petaluma, Rohnert Park allows residents to grow medicinal marijuana outdoors and indoors, but only for personal use.

Access to medicinal marijuana is not an issue in Petaluma, Williams contended.

“The greater issue is the bad things that occur in our neighborhoods as a result of unfettered access and zero regulation,” he said during the meeting earlier this week.

Outdoor growing operations are easier for potential thieves to spot, Savano said. By restricting outdoor gardens, Savano said, they could start to see a decrease in crime and nuisance complaints.

Williams said officers have handled more than 50 narcotic and marijuana cultivation complaints since 2010. Six of the cases were brought forward for prosecution, he said.

“The D.A. (district attorney) is not interested in 100 plants in somebody’s backyard,” Williams said, adding that the city is stuck with trying to deal with neighbors’ concerns.

Petaluma code enforcement officers received about 50 complaints, he said. The city also had at least five residential fires related to indoor gardens in that time, Williams said.

Councilwoman Teresa Barrett argued that forcing gardens indoors isn’t environmentally friendly and will only increase fire hazards in neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, a garage blaze erupted in a Larkfield home where fire officials discovered every room in the two-story house was being used to grow marijuana.

“The idea of moving all grows inside, I think, is just a fire waiting to happen,” Barrett said, adding that a ban also would go against the mood in the state. An initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana is expected to be placed on the state ballot next year.

“We’re taking a very regressive view on this,” Barrett said.

Although there’s a possibility that the state voters will approve recreational use, Savano said that won’t take away the need for local regulations.

“There’s still a need to protect public safety and ensure quality of life,” he said.

Mary Pat Jacobs, spokeswoman for Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said residents should have the right to grow outdoors. However, she said they don’t have a right to cause a nuisance in their neighborhoods.

“Cities have a right to avoid nuisance,” she said. “But they need to include stakeholders.”

Jacobs pointed to Sebastopol as a city that’s made outdoor medicinal cannabis grows work. The city allows a qualified patient or primary caregiver to grow marijuana outdoors as long as they yard is enclosed by a secure, opaque fence or wall at least 6 feet tall with lockable gates. The area also cannot exceed 100 square feet.

“They took into account visibility and smell,” Jacobs said. “Regulations are good - banning is not.”

A draft ordinance is expected to come back to the Petaluma City Council on Nov. 16 for discussion and a possible vote. If the council approves the ordinance, it won’t go into effect until at least early next year, City Manager John Brown said.

Mason voiced a desire for a complete ban of indoor and outdoor cannabis cultivation in residential neighborhoods.

“I realize that’s probably never going to happen,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the average citizen doesn’t see the negative impacts of backyard growing until it affects them,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.