Medical pot exempted from smoking ordinance

SEBASTOPOL – Medical marijuana will not be subject to the city’s
revamped smoking ordinance adopted at its first reading by the city
council Tuesday.
At least for the time being.
The council unanimously voted to remove medical marijuana from
the proposed ordinance and focus only on the use of tobacco after a
series of speakers, several of whom said they used the plant for
medical purposes, said they feared the ordinance would impede their
legal use of the substance.
The ordinance, an idea long pushed by outgoing councilmember
Larry Robinson, had originally included marijuana, as well as a
number of other substances, including crack cocaine.
The council decided to focus on tobacco alone at the suggestion
of councilmember Linda Kelley as a way to allow medical marijuana
users to continue their use without becoming entangled in potential
legal issues briefly outlined by Sebastopol City Attorney Larry
McLaughlin.
In addition, although recreational pot use is not currently
legal, the issue on the upcoming November ballot could change that
situation, McLaughlin said.
By confining the focus of the ordinance on the effects of
nicotine and tobacco smoke, the council was told, the ordinance
could sidestep the issue.
Councilmember Robinson suggested, that the council at some
point, perhaps in six months or a year, revisit the exemption to
see if complaints about pot smoke indicated a problem.
“The point is not to infringe upon the rights of people in their
home, but to protect others in their homes,” he said.
City Manager Jack Griffin, in introducing what is called the
Comprehensive Smoking Ordinance, said the city had been working
since 2008 to make the city’s smoking ordinance more
comprehensive.
“The city has already established smoking bans in public parks
and playgrounds. The proposed ordinance significantly increases the
city’s smoking regulations to include a number of additional
locations, most notably multi-family dwelling units.”
Currently the city regulations focus on outlawing smoking in
public places including retail stores, restaurants, banks, offices,
theaters, auditoriums and other business locations. Most
importantly, the proposed ordinance would prohibit smoking in
multi-family dwelling units as well as in unenclosed areas of such
a complexes’ common areas except in unenclosed designated
areas.
The ordinance would also require each lease or rental agreement
in units in multi-family dwelling complexes to contain provisions
outlining the new rules.
All existing leases would have 14 months after the final
adoption of the ordinance to allow for a transition period.
Single-family homes would not be affected by the ordinance.
Griffin added that the city conducted two outreach efforts to
all landlord and property managers in Sebastopol in 2009 in the
preparation of a draft of the ordinance, which resulted in very
little response or opposition.
Places where smoking will be permitted, including single family
homes other than those used for child-care, adult-care or
health-care subject to licensing, also include up to 20 percent of
guest rooms in a hotel or motel as long as 80 percent of the rooms
are smoke free, or by performers in theatrical performances.
Griffin added that the city’s sidewalks were also smoke friendly
as long as the smoker kept moving and didn’t stop to congregate
with other smokers, such as in commercial doorways, including
bars.
The city manager admitted enforcing the ordinance would be
problematical and said the city would basically depend upon
citizens to make complaints about violations with each smoking
violation to be considered an infraction with a potential $100
fine.
Under the ordinance “private enforcers” could also bring civil
damage suits against violators under certain circumstances.
In other news, the council introduced and adopted an ordinance
restricting the use of fill in the city’s 100-year flood plain
areas and limiting the elevation of the finished first floor of
buildings in order to maintain an “appropriate” relationship
between the public streetscape and the first floor of
buildings.
The issue of fill and dealing with flooding regulations came to
the fore at the conclusion of the Northeast Area Specific Plan
discussions following the last city council election.