http://arcataeye.com/index.php?module=Pagesetter&tid=2&topic=3&func=viewpub&pid=749&format=full
CITY HALL – The City Council last week again authorized formation of a task force to study issues surrounding the proliferation of marijuana grow houses in Arcata. It also named members of a separate task force to study the Utility User Tax, which will be up for renewal on next February’s primary ballot.
The marijuana task force, which will also consider issues regarding cannabis dispensaries, will not form any time soon. City staff is to develop an implementation plan with a schedule and budget for the group.
Recommendations and rehash
In a staff report, Community Development Director Tom Conlon recommended establishment of a task force, define its workplan, proportions and membership categories and initiate immediate recruiting so as to have members ready for council approval by November 7. Conlon cautioned that a task force will create further administrative work for his already overburdened department.
He asked that the council give more specific direction as to the definition of “accessory” use of homes for grows and asked for more definition from the council as to zoning issues and “buffers” for siting cannabis clinics. Conlon said recommendations could be developed, cleared with the Planning Commission and returned to the council for consideration relatively quickly. But he noted that enforcement of land use policies are not separately budgeted and are of low priority. Serious enforcement would require reduction of other activity or expansion of staff.
A sprawling discussion by the council ensued, during which the task force idea was specified in detail and fiercely advocated by Councilmember Mark Wheetley.
“This touches so many elements in the community,” he said, noting public safety, neighborhood character, housing and clinical issues, plus Humboldt State-City relations.
He suggested formation of a “technical work group” comprised of persons with specialized expertise, to collect and review data, analyze existing laws and add to it new regulations created by other communities, then integrating findings into City land use laws and returning it to the council.
For membership, Wheetley recommended the police chief, fire chief, an HSU representative, a cannabis clinic manager, a grow house neighbor, a Prop 215-experienced physician and a realtor, all managed by City Manager Michael Hackett. Wheetley and Councilmember Paul Pitino would serve as liaisons.
But Wheetley’s advocacy was diluted by considerable ambivalence by the rest of the council. Councilmember Alex Stillman expressed budget concerns and asked that the council decide what it could cut from the budget to free resources for the task force. But Pitino said doing so “feels like micromanagement,” and advised against it.
Wheetley said it was a council goal and should be a priority. Mayor Harmony Groves questioned that, but was reminded by Hackett that the council had set grow house zoning as a priority project earlier this year.
While approving the need to “calm down” the grow house situation, Groves repeatedly defended medical marijuana patients’ rights and state law, and questioned the need for more regulation without adequate enforcement. She alternately suggested approving the staff’s recommendations as they were, and later, tabling the matter entirely.
Pitino offered mixed messages as well, both saying that the task force proposals had confused him and the council, but that any task force should make findings that conform to advance direction from the council.
Pitino and others pointed to the ineffectual, resource-draining Homeless Services Plan Task Force of 2005 as a precedent to avoid.
Hackett warned again of the many other major projects in progress at City Hall, but said that the grow house task force was doable if the council was willing to closely define its parameters.
“What we need is very direct, very straightforward policy decisions by this council to tell us exactly what you want this result to be,” he said.
Conlon said property inspections could be triggered by external cues, such as odor. Excessive power consumption is another. Further, he said, landlords can regulate use of homes a grow houses in rental agreements.
Members of the public again told the council of threats to both their quality of life and, in some cases, to residents’ lives by neighborhood grow house operators. Cannabis clinicians and others warned that grow houses are producing cannabis of dubious purity, and polluting the environment.
Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond called the proliferation of grow houses "a blight on our community."
Cannabis dispensary clinic owner Steven Gasparas, who Mayor Groves allowed to speak twice during public comment, extolled the economic benefits of cannabis. he said most indoor growers eat organic food and observe best practices with regard to cultivation.
Gasparas said lots of people come to Humboldt and Arcata "from down south" and infuse major money into local businesses. "The economy is here because of marijuana growth," he said.
Gasparas said indoor cultivation is saving Arcata from an excess of housing. "There'd be way too many houses if you took away growing," he said. "There'd be tons of houses open. We all know that."
Groves later said she wouldn't allow speakers to address the council twice during the public comment period.
Machi initially suggested formation of a massive body – possibly 36 members – consisting of six specialized subcommittees. This prompted another resource-exhaustion warning by Conlon, but Pitino said only the subcommittee representatives would serve directly on the task force.
Wheetley, a state planner by profession, said the project would be eligible for numerous grants which could fund staff-saving consultants.
Ultimately, the council unanimously approved a motion by Machi to develop a workplan for a working group to address the various key issues he had earlier listed. Machi strongly urged that the body follow the proven model of the 2004 Humboldt County Medical Marijuana Task Force, and Groves, despite reservations, supported that direction.
The working group, unlike a task force, does not need to adhere to public noticing requirements under the Brown Act.
Issues for the working group will be based on points of agreement by the council, including:
• Determine the need to regulate medical marijuana clinics and grow houses through the current Land Use Development Guide and coming Land Use Code.
• Confirm that medical marijuana grows in residential zones would only be allowed as an "accessory use," that is, a use secondary to residential use, and subject to specified standards.
• Confirm Commercial and Central Business District Zones as the appropriate land use designations for medical marijuana clinics.
• Require siting criteria for cannabis clinics to buffer schols and playgrounds.
The workplan will be processed through the council's budgeting and goal-setting process.
Meanwhile, in the real world
Another Arcata grow house was taken out by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (DTF) last week. The DTF had taken reports of a strong marijuana odor emanating from a house in the 2100 block of 11th Street, with individuals loading a truck with large black garbage bags.
DTF agents served a warrant, finding no one home. Three bedrooms and the garage had been converted to indoor cultivation, and a bathroom made into a drying room. Residents were apparently using the living room for living and sleeping.
Some 686 growing marijuana plants were located, with another 95 in the drying room awaiting processing. A freezer held four-and-a-half pounds of processed leaf material, probably for creation of concentrated cannabis. Also found were a scale, packaging materials, records and two handguns.
Since the home’s wiring had been heavily modified, Arcata Fire was called to the scene to ascertain safety. Firefighters recommended that power to the home be shut off.
No dithering when it comes to taxes
The Utility User Tax Task Force (UUTTF) was established with comparative dispatch. Members named by the council are Rob Amerman, Nancy Starck, Ben Winkler, Chris Beresford and Kash Boodjeh, with Mark Loughmiller as an alternate.
Earlier in the meeting, the council approved two resolutions, one placing the Utility User tax on the Feb. 5, 2008 ballot and the other requesting that the county consolidate the measure with the general election.
The UUTTF first convenes Monday, Oct.29 in a study session with the City Council.
--------------------
|