A proposed ban on outdoor marijuana cultivation for medical users in Petaluma will be revised to allow limited backyard grows, following the impassioned testimony of some residents who argued to the City Council Monday that an indoor growing requirement would be prohibitively expensive and increase barriers for legitimate patients.
The concerns emerged as the Petaluma City Council considered a sweeping set of local rules to regulate the cultivation of marijuana, a practice that Petaluma police said has created a crime-attracting nuisance in some of the city’s residential neighborhoods. The ordinance, which included rules like maximum square footage and electricity use, sought to strike a balance between the needs of medical users and the concerns of both neighbors and law enforcement.
Most council members were quick to argue that some form of outdoor growing should be allowed in Petaluma, but that the larger-scale operations that exist in some backyards around the city should be tightly controlled to limit odor and the risk of theft. A revised ordinance fashioned after outdoor growing regulations in Healdsburg and Sebastopol is expected to go before the council for consideration in January 2016.
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