Pot ordinance going to the voters
Posted: 08/10/2011 12:18:26 AM PDT
OROVILLE — Butte County's controversial marijuana cultivation ordinance is slated to go to the voters next June, due to a successful referendum petition drive.
In a 21-minute hearing Tuesday, a divided Butte County Board of Supervisors voted to put the ordinance on the ballot in the June primary.
The decision came on a 3-2 vote, with Chico Supervisor Larry Wahl, Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly, and Paradise Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi voting to put the ordinance before the voters for an up or down decision.
The ordinance prohibited marijuana cultivation on any lot smaller than a half-acre, required growers to register with the county and provide the names of all those for whom they were growing. Additionally, it put limitations on the number of plants that could be cultivated on a parcel based on property size, and forbade the growing of any plants within 1,000 feet of a school, church, childcare facility, or a drug and/or alcohol treatment center.
The ordinance had been the topic of intense debate since March, with three massive public hearings and more than 15 hours of often rancorous public testimony. The supervisors approved it during a special meeting May 24, conducted in a pavilion at the Butte County Fairgrounds to accommodate the massive crowd.
An organization called Citizens for Compassionate Use, was immediately formed and it launched a petition drive to block the ordinance.
* It could repeal the measure;
* It could vote to put it on the ballot for the next planned election, in this case the June 2012 primary; or,petitions had sufficient signatures to halt enforcement of the ordinance and to force the board to take one of three options:
* It could schedule a special election of its own.
Before the board voted, County Chief Administrative Officer Paul Hahn, said a special election would cost Butte between $450,000 and $500,000. Piggy-backing the referendum on the June primary would cost $50,000 "or substantially less," Hahn said.
Compared to previous hearings, a relative handful of individuals spoke to the board, mostly urging the supervisors to repeal the ordinance and be done with it.
Robert MacKenzie, who described himself as the attorney for the Citizens for Compassionate Use, said the group had a substitute ordinance for the board to consider, if they chose to repeal the existing measure.
"I would like to repeal the ordinance and come up with another ordinance that works," said Chico Supervisor Maureen Kirk.
She made her proposal a motion.
Board Chairman Steve Lambert, whose district stretches from the southwest corner of the county to parts of Chico, seconded the motion.
"My thing is, we need to address this now," explained Lambert.
He said if the county waited until June for a resolution of the situation, the county would again be in the middle of a marijuana growing season. Lambert said he didn't want to wait another year or spend $50,000 to deal with this concern.
The motion died when Connelly, Wahl, and Yamaguchi voted no.
Wahl said the opponents of the ordinance asked for a referendum, "They asked that it be put before the entire people of Butte County, and I think we should honor their wishes."
Kirk said, "I don't think our ordinance is legally defensible even if it passes ... I think if we put it to a ballot we will waste the money and then face a lawsuit."
Yamaguchi, Connelly, and Wahl then voted to put it on the ballot.
Staff writer Roger H. Aylworth can be reached at 896-7762 or raylworth@chicoer.com.
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