In a compromise intended to balance the concerns of the police department and the medical marijuana community, the Healdsburg City Council on Monday unanimously approved new cultivation guidelines that will allow patients to grow a few plants outdoors.
Patients, or their caregivers, will be allowed to grow three plants in their backyard or sideyard only, and also be able to cultivate up to six plants indoors.
"I think it's appropriate for our community," said Mayor Jim Wood. "We weren't going to allow any outdoor cultivation."
In response to perennial complaints about backyard marijuana gardens, Police Chief Kevin Burke last year proposed guidelines that would allow only indoor cultivation, with grow lights.
Police were concerned not only about pot plant thefts and the potential for robberies, but placating some residents who complained the strong, skunk-like smell of the maturing plants was so overpowering that it deprived them of the enjoyment of their backyards.
But the proposal met with opposition from medical cannabis users, who said being forced to grow indoors is a significant expense, especially for low-income patients who need it
"I was worried about folks who didn't have the money to set up an indoor growing system," Councilman Shaun McCaffrey said Monday.
A subcommittee consisting of council members, planning commissioners, medical marijuana users and the police chief came up with the recommendation to also allow the limited outdoor cultivation.
Healdsburg's ordinance, which will go into effect around mid-June, limits cultivation to no less than 300 feet from schools, churches, hospitals, parks and playgrounds.
"Compassion and common sense won the day," said Gary Buchanan, a registered nurse who said his patients use marijuana for symptoms ranging from chronic pain to alleviating the effects of chemotherapy.
In the next few years, Chief Burke said he anticipates legalization of recreational marijuana use is "inevitable," and the Healdsburg guidelines for cultivation would also apply in that event.
Not everyone was pleased Monday. Angie Monette, who said her Healdsburg mother uses marijuana to help deal with early dementia, said more plants should be allowed.
"Three plants is simply not enough," she told the council, especially in light of the fact that medical marijuana dispensaries are prohibited in Healdsburg.
But she acknowledged after the council approved the new guidelines "we're happy to get something."
Chief Burke said courts have ruled that cities have the right to disallow any cultivation of marijuana, but he did not recommend it for Healdsburg.
Although California voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1996, no standards were set on the numbers of plants or the amount of marijuana patients could possess and it has remained a murky issue.
The state, cities and counties have come up with different limits. In 2003, state law spelled out that qualified patients or primary caregivers could possess up to eight ounces of dried marijuana and maintain no more than six mature or 12 immature plants per patient. But the state Supreme Court in 2010 in essence said the limits can be exceeded and patients can possess and cultivate as much as is "reasonably necessary" for their medical needs.
Cities and counties also are allowed to enact their own statutes to exceed state limits. Sebastopol is the only city in Sonoma County to do so.
In 2010, the Sebastopol City Council approved a law that allows patients and caregivers to grow up to 30 plants in gardens that can cover as much as 100 square feet. They also can possess as much as three pounds of processed marijuana at the garden site.
In unincorporated Sonoma County, the guidelines are similar to Sebastopol's.
Last year when Healdsburg was poised to prohibit outdoor cultivation, there was a clamor from medical marijuana advocates and west county residents who showed up in Healdsburg.
Some of those critical of Healdsburg's plans to prohibit outdoor gardens, or urging the City Council to study the issue further, included Sebastopol Vice Mayor Robert Jacob, executive director of the Peace in Medicine cannabis dispensary; former Sebastopol City Council members Craig Litwin and Linda Kelley; and former west county Supervisor Ernie Carpenter.
"I know this ordinance doesn't fit everybody's needs. But it fits the needs of the community and the majority of medical marijuana citizens in our community," Healdsburg City Councilman Gary Plass said Monday.
You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com
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