Good Neighbor Cannabis Cultivation

Homeowner’s and Cultivators Find Common Ground

Representatives from various homeowner’s associations, patient’s rights advocates and medical cannabis cultivators formed a stakeholder’s committee to provide input into the cultivation ordinance currently being drafted by the Nevada County district attorney’s office.  After months of painstaking deliberations, the group reached a consensus on language and contents of a cultivation ordinance that all sides could live with.

Don Bessee, representing several large homeowner’s associations in Nevada County, stated that “No one side is going to get everything they want.  If you can get 60 – 80%, that’s a win.”

The process was a great learning experience for everyone involved.  All parties agreed that the impetus of the ordinance was to rein in the “bad apples” that were causing problems for their neighbors.   Coming from that perspective, the group found many areas of common ground to start building the ordinance.  Each side found the opposition willing to compromise in order to write an ordinance that would survive a court challenge.

By working together to define the problems, the committee was able to come up with common sense solutions to mitigate the concerns of neighbors.  Rather than ban patients from growing their own medicine on smaller residential lots, the group recommended that 6 mature plants be allowed, but limited the size containers the plants could be grown in.  This solution reduced the odor nuisance to neighbors while still allowing a patient the ability to grow most – if not all – of their medical cannabis for the year.  Larger numbers of plants are allowed as parcels increase in size, depending on their zoning.

One area the group disagreed on is the “Three Strikes” clause.  The clause would provide neighbors relief from   inconsiderate growers who refuse to conform to regulations.  After three verified complaints, the garden would be uprooted and the grower would loose his growing privileges the following season.  Oddly, the cultivators favored this provision, but the homeowner’s balked, fearing the clause wouldn’t survive a court challenge.  In the spirit of compromise, the provision was stricken from the final document.

So far, the only encampment not thrilled with the process is County Staff consisting of the Sheriff, the District Attorney, and County Counsel.  We are awaiting the final version of the ordinance, but signals from their side are not promising.  The County ordinance would ban all indoor cultivation.  But even more troubling is  their  insistence that the ordinance state “nothing is allowed that breaks any local, state or federal law.”

The Nevada County Good Neighbor Cultivation amendment is a local ordinance regarding a State law.  The inclusion of the word “federal” is the poison pill many counties use to ban dispensaries or cultivation.  It is almost certain to spark an initiative drive to let the people of Nevada County vote on the issue.

By listening to the concerns of others, the stakeholder’s group found a consensus among people from polar opposite camps.  Our political leaders could learn much from the example.