Healdsburg could ban outdoor pot growing for recreational use

Healdsburg may join a growing list of cities looking to curb the proliferation of outdoor marijuana gardens.

The City Council tonight will consider instituting a moratorium on outdoor cultivation and allowing only indoor grows that comply with strict requirements.

The council has scheduled a public hearing on the marijuana issue because of California voters’ recent approval of Proposition 64 legalizing recreational use of pot, which authorizes adults 21 or older to grow six plants per household.

But it also allows local jurisdictions to prohibit outdoor cultivation and enact health and safety rules for growing indoors, or in an “accessory structure.”

Both the city of Sonoma and Windsor just enacted emergency ordinances to halt any outdoor cannabis for an initial period of 45 days, but with moratoria that can be extended a total of two years.

The justification is that marijuana cultivation can create offensive odors and lead to criminal activity and dangerous electrical alterations, and the cities need time to study the impacts of legalization.

Healdsburg currently allows cultivation of up to three plants outdoors for medical marijuana purposes and up to six plants indoors.

But the plants must be at least 300 feet from any school, hospital, church, park, playground, recreation center or youth center.

The city also prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries, but doesn’t prohibit or regulate medical cannabis deliveries within the city.

In order for an urgency ordinance banning nonmedical marijuana cultivation to take immediate effect, it requires four out of five council members to approve it.

The rules being proposed for indoor cultivation include grow lights that meet electrical and fire codes; installation of a filtered ventilation system; prohibition of gas products or generators; presence of a portable fire extinguisher; and no evidence of marijuana growing from the public right-of-way.

In addition, if it is a rental dwelling, the written consent of the property owner is required.

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. and is held at City Hall, 401 Grove St.

There are other issues on the council agenda likely to draw extra public scrutiny.

Prior to taking up the marijuana question, the City Council will get an update on enforcement actions against vacation rental homes, which are prohibited in Healdsburg’s residential zones.

The city manager also will report on the procedure for choosing a new City Council member to replace Eric Ziedrich, who announced his intent to resign by the end of the year.

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

With state approval this month, the Sonoma County Office of Education is set to expand its credentialing program to create more elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers, special education teachers and administrators.

The credentialing program, offered through SCOE’s North Coast School of Education, is an initiative that was devised in 2015 as a solution to the teacher shortage crippling school districts nationwide.

It serves as an alternative path for adults who wish to get teaching credentials. The established fee is $4,250 per person, which pays for books and tuition.

“This credential expansion will allow us to grow,” said Steve Herrington, superintendent of Sonoma County schools. “With the housing costs being challenging for teachers, we’re basically recruiting for current residents who in turn can meet the need of the teacher shortage here in Sonoma County.”

The “Be a Teacher” classes started in January, at a start-up cost of $100,000 paid by the county.

The program first focused on training people interested in obtaining a credential to teach special education students.

Now, it is expanding to offer other types of credentials, including credentials for administrators, multiple-subject teachers in elementary school and single-subject teachers in middle and high school.

The Sonoma County program has already put 25 special education teacher-interns into local classrooms. The expansion will allow the program to produce about 75 teacher-interns and 25 administrators a year.

The 25 teacher-interns are already working in classrooms across Sonoma County, including in Santa Rosa city schools, the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District, Windsor Unified School District and Cloverdale Unified School District - and there’s a waiting list for future sessions.

The program has been a success, with Marin, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Davis, Yolo and Humboldt county offices interested in running satellite programs in their own counties, said Karen Ricketts, executive director of the North Coast School of Education.

The primary and secondary education credentialing programs were approved by the California Committee on Accreditation on Nov. 9, and SCOE expects those classes to begin in January 2017.

Herrington said that 120 adults are already enrolled in the January session,

The program involves 150 hours of coursework including classes held twice a week; there is a waiting list for the summer session.

Anyone interested in the program can go to ncsoe.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.