Politics & Government
City Council to Discuss Hot-Button Issues at Tonight's Meeting
Growing marijuana, bicycle safety and Foss Creek Circle are all on the agenda, and it's hard to tell which subject will prove most contentious.
The best show in town on a Monday night is often the Healdsburg City Council meeting, and this this week promises to have its share of drama, featuring several issues of proven interest to Healdsburg residents.
Just consider: Growing marijuana, bicycle safety and Foss Creek Circle are all on the agenda, and it’s hard to tell which subject will prove most contentious.
Police Chief Kevin Burke is set to present the first reading of an ordinance regulating the cultivation of marijuana within the City of Healdsburg, taking into account such as disruptive “skunk” odors from outdoor cultivation that impacts neighbors, the “attractive nuisance” such plants present to children, increased burglary and other property crimes, and “the limited right of qualified patients… to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes does not confer the right to create or maintain a public nuisance.”
The statues of the ordinance outlaws outdoor cultivation, limits indoor cultivation to a given number of plants, restricts cultivation within 300 feet of schools, hospitals, day care centers etc., sets standards for indoor cultivation and outlines enforcement, violations, penalties and liabilities.
Another item of some contention is the Council’s reconsideration of the Vulnerable User Ordinance, which was presented to Council a month ago but stalled out due to a 2-2 split on several motions. It was agreed to reconsider the evaluation at this meeting, when all five members are expected to be present, including Mayor Susan Jones.
Finally there is scheduled an update from Mayor Jones on the Foss Creek Circle issue, a two-way circle off Grove St. that included several residences, offices and warehouse businesses. The loop became congested when the U.S. Postal Service turned its distribution annex into the main public office.
The solution of turning it into a one-way road was adopted last August, but the counter-intuitive clockwise direction of the circle continues to elicit public comment in Council meetings and the local press.
The meeting, which will be called to order at 6 pm in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, has five items on the Consent Calendar, which will all be adopted as a block without debate unless specific items are removed for separate discussion by a Council member. The City of Healdsburg offers the full agenda on its website, and it is attached to this article as a document.
The public is allowed to speak on non-agenda items toward the beginning of the meeting, and is again given the opportunity on specific agenda items.
