PD Editorial: Santa Rosa rolls out red carpet to pot growers

“Please do not allow outdoor growing of marijuana in city limits. I had to keep my windows closed frequently last year as the smell was horrendous,” wrote one Santa Rosa resident to the city in March.

“My neighbor has been growing for years,” wrote a resident named George. “And the traffic in and out if his house (at all hours) is a major nuisance.”

It’s because of concerns like these that many cities and counties across California have taken a wait-and-see approach to entering this new world where the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana is legal. Proposition 64 allows adults to grow up to six plants at home. But it leaves it up to cities whether to allow outdoor growing.

As a result, dozens of communities, including Windsor and Healdsburg, have banned outdoor growing in residential areas while others, including Petaluma and Cloverdale, have prohibited commercial operations. Many have done both.

But not Santa Rosa. By comparison, the government center of Sonoma County has rolled out the red carpet for this burgeoning industry.

Last year, the city began issuing permits for medicinal cannabis operations in industrial zones, resulting in a “green rush” for warehouse space around town and the transformation of a number of businesses into centers for the growing, testing, sale and/or distribution of cannabis products. The city also developed a tax structure on these marijuana operations that voters will be deciding in the June 6 election.

But the city’s most significant move may have been what it chose not to do. Last week, after a few failed attempts, the Santa Rosa City Council voted 5-2 to not move ahead with a staff recommendation to ban outdoor growing in neighborhoods.

We believe this was a mistake. As we noted in an editorial earlier this spring, it would have been far easier to amend the city’s rules at a later date - after the analysis staff recommended - and permit outdoor growing rather than to give the green light at the outset and try to change it later.

Either way, because of the council’s waffling on the issue, the city probably already missed the window of opportunity to do something this year. The staff had recommended adopting an urgency ordinance at the start of April before outdoor gardens were planted. But growing season has already begun.

Some council members doubted whether there were enough safety or nuisance concerns to justify the emergency ban on pot gardens. Mayor Chris Coursey said he also was concerned about whether the city’s team of code enforcement officers had the bandwidth to respond to complaints about violations of such ordinance.

Making sure the city has adequate code enforcement is a legitimate ongoing concern. But it shouldn’t be used as an excuse to avoid adopting rules to address a real community concern. As some residents of Lake and Mendocino counties, as well as the authors of the many letters, such as those quoted above, that Santa Rosa has received will attest, the problems of cannabis cultivation in neighborhoods is real. In any event, the city will not be able to avoid responding to problems if and when they arise - such as complaints about neighbors exceeding the six-plant maximum permitted under Proposition 64.

Some council members have suggested that they want to revisit the issue next year. We hope that will be the case. In the meantime, the burden is on city officials to keep close tabs on the impacts of what they have chosen to do in welcoming cannabis into the business and residential parts of town.

Those who desire to grow marijuana either for personal or business use certainly have reason to be pleased with the City Council’s course of action and inaction. What’s not clear is whether everyone will feel the same.