CORNING CA.- After a lengthy discussion, the Corning City Council last week gave the first of two needed approvals to an ordinance that would ban outdoor marijuana grows in this Tehama County city.
The 4-1 vote was to waive the first reading of the measure. Final approval will come at the next council meeting on Feb. 9
Talks on regulating cultivation of medical marijuana and banning dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives started at a February 2009 Planning Commission meeting, landing in City Council Chambers a few months later.
Corning passed a 45-day temporary ban on dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives in August 2009, followed by an extension through August of this year.
The newest set of regulations prohibits cultivation outdoors and requires cultivation sites to be in secured, detached structures – not a residence – in the backyard of the parcel.
There must also be a six-foot-tall solid fence to keep the plants out of sight, and a minimum of 10 feet between the property line and the structure.
Requirements include the use of a ventilation system to prevent the odor from impacting neighboring properties.
A public hearing prior to the vote had residents from both sides of the fence represented.
Ken Prather, one of the operators of the now-closed Tehama Herbal Collective dispensary, said taking away the right to cultivate outdoors automatically took away some patients' rights to grow marijuana, as it made the process too costly.
He strongly objected to the part of the ordinance that requires those growing to register with the Planning Department.
"It provides relief for cancer, glaucoma and other diseases," Prather said. "It's a doctor-patient issue."
But several parents and grandparents asked the council to consider the destruction marijuana causes.
Ken Killinger, a pastor, told the story of a man whose marriage broke up after he began buying from a neighbor who had a medical marijuana recommendation and how the man, despite having a good job, was staying home to smoke marijuana.
Several people, including Killinger's wife Karen, thought medical marijuana should be in drugstores and be regulated by the government like all other medicines.
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: ContraCostaTimes.com
Author: JULIE ZEEB
Contact: Home - ContraCostaTimes.com
Copyright: 2009 Bay Area News Group
Website:Corning votes to ban outdoor marijuana grows -
The 4-1 vote was to waive the first reading of the measure. Final approval will come at the next council meeting on Feb. 9
Talks on regulating cultivation of medical marijuana and banning dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives started at a February 2009 Planning Commission meeting, landing in City Council Chambers a few months later.
Corning passed a 45-day temporary ban on dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives in August 2009, followed by an extension through August of this year.
The newest set of regulations prohibits cultivation outdoors and requires cultivation sites to be in secured, detached structures – not a residence – in the backyard of the parcel.
There must also be a six-foot-tall solid fence to keep the plants out of sight, and a minimum of 10 feet between the property line and the structure.
Requirements include the use of a ventilation system to prevent the odor from impacting neighboring properties.
A public hearing prior to the vote had residents from both sides of the fence represented.
Ken Prather, one of the operators of the now-closed Tehama Herbal Collective dispensary, said taking away the right to cultivate outdoors automatically took away some patients' rights to grow marijuana, as it made the process too costly.
He strongly objected to the part of the ordinance that requires those growing to register with the Planning Department.
"It provides relief for cancer, glaucoma and other diseases," Prather said. "It's a doctor-patient issue."
But several parents and grandparents asked the council to consider the destruction marijuana causes.
Ken Killinger, a pastor, told the story of a man whose marriage broke up after he began buying from a neighbor who had a medical marijuana recommendation and how the man, despite having a good job, was staying home to smoke marijuana.
Several people, including Killinger's wife Karen, thought medical marijuana should be in drugstores and be regulated by the government like all other medicines.
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: ContraCostaTimes.com
Author: JULIE ZEEB
Contact: Home - ContraCostaTimes.com
Copyright: 2009 Bay Area News Group
Website:Corning votes to ban outdoor marijuana grows -
