Elk Grove Officials Pass Strict Outdoor Cultivation Ordinance

The Elk Grove City Council on Wednesday night approved one of the most restrictive medical marijuana growing ordinances in Northern California, requiring that any growing operation be conducted indoors.

The 3-2 vote, with council members Sophia Scherman and Steve Detrick opposed, will allow patients eligible to use medical marijuana or their primary caregivers to grow pot only on limited space indoors.

Scherman and Detrick said they would prefer that there be no marijuana growing in Elk Grove. But the state’s Proposition 215 of 1996, known as the Compassionate Use Act, allows patients to cultivate medical marijuana. So cities throughout the state have established an array of ordinances that seek to regulate where and how cultivation may occur.

The council last September had warned that there had been too much abuse by growers and wanton disregard for neighbors at outdoor cultivation sites, and urged an ordinance be drafted that would require any allowed growing to occur in secure, ventilated structures in a residential user's backyard.

The council voted Wednesday night, however, to allow marijuana to be grown either in an outbuilding separate from the residence, or inside the home.

Under the ordinance, medical marijuana can be cultivated in a detached building behind a residence, where the grow area could be no more than 120 square feet. A six-foot backyard fence must surround the site. And the building would need approved ventilation and security systems.

In the alternative, medical marijuana can be grown in a 50-square-foot area inside the home, on the uncertain prospect that indoor growing might be more discreet.

Police Chief Robert Lehner said it's not clear whether one growing area will be any safer than another.

The ordinance, which take effect 30 days after a second reading, includes these restrictions:

• No one other than a qualified patient or primary caregiver may grow medical marijuana. One of the two people must reside on the premises.

• Outdoor cultivation is prohibited. Cultivation is barred within 1,000 feet of any school, child-care center or public park. And the growing area may not be accessible to anyone 17 or younger.

• Grow lights cannot exceed 1,200 watts; and use of gas products is prohibited.

• A ventilation and filtration system approved by the city's building official must be installed. A mechanical or electronic security system is required and also must be approved by the building official or police chief.

• Cultivation for sale is prohibited. A cultivation permit is required, good for two years, and the application for that must include the notarized signature of the property owner.

• Cultivation at residential sites only.

Elk Grove is one of the latest cities in the region to tackle the issue, partly as the result of a spate of violence that has occurred at growing sites throughout Northern California.

Growing restrictions already have been approved in multiple cities, including Rancho Cordova, Rocklin, Chico and Corning.

The ordinance does not address dispensaries. The city of Elk Grove was one of the early adopters of an ordinance to ban dispensaries outright.