Windsor Town Council to consider ban on outdoor pot growing

California voters last week approved adult use of marijuana and the right to grow six plants per household, and now the town of Windsor is taking steps to ensure that cultivation doesn’t happen outdoors.

The Town Council today will consider an emergency ordinance to immediately prohibit outdoor cannabis growing, similar to what Sonoma did last week. Voter-approved Proposition 64, which legalized adult use of marijuana, allows local jurisdictions to ban outdoor cultivation and place restrictions on indoor grows.

Whether grown inside or out, households are limited to a total of a half-dozen plants for nonmedical use. A number of cities in the Bay Area and Southern California in recent weeks took pre-emptive steps to forbid outdoor grows, citing the skunk-like odor plants can produce along with exposing people to robberies, potential violence, vandalism and theft of visible marijuana plants.

“Windsor is a family town,” Mayor Mark Millan said Tuesday, adding that an urgency ordinance will provide time to assess the impacts of legalization for adult use.

The ordinance - which requires approval from four out of five council members - would be in effect for ?45 days but could be extended for a total of two years.

Millan said all of the emails and comments he’s heard from constituents so far have been against allowing pot growing outdoors.

“What will it mean for odor and safety? Those are the things people are concerned about,” he said.

Most cities in Sonoma County have allowed a limited number of plants to be grown outdoors for personal use by medical marijuana patients, except for Sonoma, Windsor and Rohnert Park.

Windsor Town Manager Linda Kelly is recommending the Town Council extend the ban to recreational marijuana. She also is asking the council to provide direction on other aspects of Proposition 64 which affect the town, including commercial activities, deliveries and smoking.

The interim ordinances, she said, will provide time to engage the community in the issues, hear resident feedback and gauge potential crime trends through the experiences of other jurisdictions.

Regulating various commercial cannabis activities, and deciding whether to allow marijuana businesses, is not considered as urgent because the state won’t begin licensing them until 2018. Although local jurisdictions can ban outdoor cultivation, they can only regulate indoor bans for health and safety purposes.

Windsor is proposing regulations for indoor cultivation that include limiting the wattage of grow lights; ensuring plants not be accessible to anyone under 21 years of age; prohibiting the use of gas products; and having a fire extinguisher available.

Today’s council meeting begins at ?6 p.m. and is being held at the Windsor Senior Center, 9231 Foxwood Drive.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214.