Advocates vow to challenge Clearlake pot ban

The Clearlake City Council has banned all cannabis cultivation within city limits, a rare move that is expected to trigger legal challenges from marijuana advocates.

The council voted 3-1 Thursday night to ban marijuana cultivation entirely, saying it was a threat to public safety, health and the general well-being of its economy and estimated 15,000 residents.

In doing so, Clearlake joins just three other California counties and cities known to have ordinances completely banning cannabis cultivation - the city of Live Oak in Sutter County and the city and county of Fresno. Many other counties and cities, however, have taken steps to control marijuana growing, including requiring it be grown only inside secured structures with ventilation systems.

Clearlake council members said pot growers had forced them to take drastic action by refusing to comply with the city’s former ordinance, which allowed up to six plants in residential backyards.

“The growing has just gone rampant up here. You see it absolutely everywhere,” Clearlake Mayor Denise Loustalot said Friday. Growers generally have ignored the plant limit, turning neighborhoods into crime magnets and creating smelly nuisances that prevent other residents from opening their windows and sitting in their yards during the growing season, council members said.

Marijuana advocates said the ban goes too far and that it violates the intent of state laws that allow marijuana growing for medicinal use.

“We think the Clearlake ban should be challenged in court,” said Dale Gieringer, California coordinator of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “This is totally in contradiction of the intent of Proposition 215,” which legalized marijuana for medicinal use in 1996, as well as subsequent state laws.

Local pot advocates at Thursday’s meeting vowed to sue and to initiate a referendum to halt implementation of the ordinance, which otherwise will go into effect in 30 days.

They said the city could be bankrupted by legal action.

City officials are concerned about the price of litigation, but, “We felt our hands were tied,” Councilman Russ Perdock said.

The city already has been expending huge amounts of time and money to try to enforce the plant limits, he said. City staff estimated enforcement efforts cost $113,000 last year, Perdock said.

City officials believe their ordinance is defensible in court.

Live Oak successfully defended its ban on marijuana growing, Loustalot noted. Pot bans in the city and county of Fresno still are being litigated but so far have been upheld.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@MendoReporter.