marijuana growing in an Arcata dispensary

After a long discussion and some resistance on a couple things -- the definition of caregiver, and whether the words "total canopy" should be included as part of the definition of square footage -- the council voted unanimously to adopt new land use guidelines covering how medical marijuana works in the city.

To be specific, they adopted Ordinance No. 1382 to Amend the Arcata Municipal Code, Title IX, the Land Use Code by Adding Section 9.42.105 - Medical Marijuana: Cultivation and Dispensing as a New Standard for Specific Land Use; and Associated Revisions to: Allowable Land Uses and Permit Requirement Tables 2-1, 2-4, and 2-10; Add Associated Definitions to Article 10 - Glossary; Revise Text to Section 9.42.040 - Accessory Uses, and Section 9.42.090 - Home Occupations.

An important change is that receiving any compensation for growing dope at home for someone other than yourself is now considered a home occupation and is not allowed. What was once a grey market is now black market.

The only firm resistance came from  Paul Pitino and Harmony Groves, two current councilmembers who opted not to run for re-election. When they realized that they were out voted, they went with the plan. Mayor Mark Wheetley suggested that anything that did not work out could be reviewed in six months -- by then there will be three new people on the council.

Here's the new code in pdf form.

Side note to the city employee who makes the PDFs attached to agendas: It's great that you're supplying this information on the web, but you should know that anything that's typed up on a computer can be turned into a PDF digitally. There's no need to print the document and scan it. Time to adopt real 21st century technology.