Sonoma weighs ban on recreational pot growing

If California voters legalize marijuana for recreational use on Tuesday as pollsters are predicting, adults immediately will be allowed to grow six pot plants per residence, either indoors or outdoors.

But Sonoma may be the exception if the City Council passes an emergency ordinance imposing a moratorium on cannabis cultivation.

On Monday, the council is scheduled to consider immediately banning all outdoor pot growing, but allowing it to be grown indoors with restrictions. The emergency moratorium is recommended by City Attorney Jeffrey Walter as a way to buy time for the city to weigh the impacts of increased backyard gardens.

“We’re pushing the pause button, recommending to the City Council ‘let’s freeze where we are right now and give us time to study these things,’” he said Friday.

Most cities in Sonoma County, including Santa Rosa, allow a limited number of plants to be grown outdoors for personal use by medical marijuana patients. But both Sonoma and Windsor prohibit it.

Proposition 64, which would allow adult recreational use, also allows local jurisdictions to ban personal outdoor cultivation intended for non-medical consumption.

A number of cities throughout the state are adopting local rules ahead of the likely legalization of pot, banning outdoor cultivation, governing indoor growing operations, or restricting sales.

Palo Alto, San Bruno and Foster City recently banned outdoor cultivation and several cities in San Diego County have temporarily banned cultivation along with Santa Barbara and Solvang, according to published reports.

From the standpoint of cities and counties, developing their own regulations pertaining to commercial cultivation and sale of non-medical marijuana is not urgent, because the state will not begin licensing such businesses until 2018.

But Walter noted that if voters approve legalization, they can begin growing six plants for recreational use ”one minute past midnight” on Nov. 9, unless the local jurisdiction prohibits it.

The Sonoma draft ordinance states that legalization likely will result in a significant increase in individuals growing marijuana, “exposing citizens to robberies, potential violence, vandalism and theft of marijuana plants being openly and visibly grown in the yards and grounds of residential properties throughout the city.”

Based on the experience of Colorado and other states that have non-medical marijuana legalized, it is likely Proposition 64’s passage will have significant impacts on law enforcement, medical resources and regulatory functions of local agencies, including Sonoma, according to the ordinance.

The rationale for the urgent ordinance is that the city needs time to protect residents and time to study whether to permit and regulate cultivation. Local jurisdictions won’t be allowed to ban indoor cultivation if Prop. 64 passes, but they can impose restrictions, basically related to health and safety.

The proposed Sonoma ordinance would impose requirements, such as not allowing indoor grow lights to exceed 1,000 watts, installing appropriate ventilation and filtration systems and not allowing evidence of cultivation to be visible from the public right-of-way.

The emergency ordinance will be considered by the City Council on Monday sometime after 6 p.m. and requires four-fifths approval. The ban on cultivation would be in effect for an initial 45 days but could be extended two years.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.