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The Visalia City Council decided on Monday night to change the city's pot ordinance and restrict the cultivation of marijuana inside city limits.
The City Council voted 5-0 to approve the allowance of 12 plants to be grown within a 12-square-foot area within an enclosed four-wall structure no matter if it's in a residential or agricultural zone.
The ordinance previously allowed the growth area to be 100 square feet.
Inspection requirements were also removed from the ordinance because city attorney Alex Peltzer said if individuals are adhering to the law, then large marijuana grows shouldn't become a problem.
But if the city were to receive complaints, Peltzer said, code enforcement would look into the matter and could in the future impose quarterly or monthly inspections for those who come into violation of the ordinance.
Medical marijuana has been a hot-button issue in California ever since it was put on the ballot as Proposition 215 back in 1996.
Californians passed the ballot measure, which allowed people with a valid doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate pot for personal use. The standards were left up to the individual cities.
The changes in the ordinance were made in part based on the public's input from a prior City Council meeting.
Those in attendance said that two plants, which was the original allowable amount of marijuana for cultivation, wasn't enough for them to help alleviate their medical problems.
So city staff took that into account when drafting the new ordinance, Peltzer said.
One thing that wasn't changed was the fines for those violate the ordinance. The fines would be increased to $1,000 a day, and after seven days, they would increase to $2,000 a day.
An individual would receive a notice from code enforcement before being fined. That individual would have 10 days to fix the violation before the fines would start, Peltzer said. Also, there would be administrative enforcement of the violations, which would allow for immediate fines where an opportunity to fix the violation is not appropriate under the circumstances.
Also at the meeting, a proposed commercial development in north Visalia failed to get approval from the City Council.
All five council members had questions on whether a new ARCO gas station and a Wendy's restaurant were good for the area.
In a vote of 4-1, the City Council decided to uphold an appeal from CRS Farming without prejudice on the proposed development on the southeast corner of Riggin Avenue and Dinuba Boulevard.
That means that Bridgecourt Homes Limited Partnership, which owns the property, can come back with a more detailed plan of the proposed commercial development within a year in hopes of getting approved by both the Planning Commission and the City Council.
A few questions the City Council had were about the depth of the development (if there was a master plan), the architectural design standards of the signage and amending the General Plan in terms of zoning designation.
Also Councilman Greg Collins, who was the lone dissenter on the vote, brought up possible saturation of commercial development at that corner of Dinuba and Riggin as well as the Dinuba Boulevard corridor.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: visaliatimesdelta.com
Author: Mark Peinado
The City Council voted 5-0 to approve the allowance of 12 plants to be grown within a 12-square-foot area within an enclosed four-wall structure no matter if it's in a residential or agricultural zone.
The ordinance previously allowed the growth area to be 100 square feet.
Inspection requirements were also removed from the ordinance because city attorney Alex Peltzer said if individuals are adhering to the law, then large marijuana grows shouldn't become a problem.
But if the city were to receive complaints, Peltzer said, code enforcement would look into the matter and could in the future impose quarterly or monthly inspections for those who come into violation of the ordinance.
Medical marijuana has been a hot-button issue in California ever since it was put on the ballot as Proposition 215 back in 1996.
Californians passed the ballot measure, which allowed people with a valid doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate pot for personal use. The standards were left up to the individual cities.
The changes in the ordinance were made in part based on the public's input from a prior City Council meeting.
Those in attendance said that two plants, which was the original allowable amount of marijuana for cultivation, wasn't enough for them to help alleviate their medical problems.
So city staff took that into account when drafting the new ordinance, Peltzer said.
One thing that wasn't changed was the fines for those violate the ordinance. The fines would be increased to $1,000 a day, and after seven days, they would increase to $2,000 a day.
An individual would receive a notice from code enforcement before being fined. That individual would have 10 days to fix the violation before the fines would start, Peltzer said. Also, there would be administrative enforcement of the violations, which would allow for immediate fines where an opportunity to fix the violation is not appropriate under the circumstances.
Also at the meeting, a proposed commercial development in north Visalia failed to get approval from the City Council.
All five council members had questions on whether a new ARCO gas station and a Wendy's restaurant were good for the area.
In a vote of 4-1, the City Council decided to uphold an appeal from CRS Farming without prejudice on the proposed development on the southeast corner of Riggin Avenue and Dinuba Boulevard.
That means that Bridgecourt Homes Limited Partnership, which owns the property, can come back with a more detailed plan of the proposed commercial development within a year in hopes of getting approved by both the Planning Commission and the City Council.
A few questions the City Council had were about the depth of the development (if there was a master plan), the architectural design standards of the signage and amending the General Plan in terms of zoning designation.
Also Councilman Greg Collins, who was the lone dissenter on the vote, brought up possible saturation of commercial development at that corner of Dinuba and Riggin as well as the Dinuba Boulevard corridor.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: visaliatimesdelta.com
Author: Mark Peinado
