Chase was among a handful of MMJ advocates who attended the meeting, and while public participation wasn't officially on the agenda, he says he was allowed to briefly tout an alternate proposal. While councilwoman Jeanne Robb wants a limit of twelve plants in residential zones, he instead suggested growing areas in homes, apartments and so on be restricted to eighty square feet. However, he says council members weren't receptive owing to reported conflicts with the city's new zoning code.
Also weighing in, says Chase, were numerous officials and inspectors, who talked about potential dangers like booby-trapped grow houses of the sort that are said to exist in Canada; real-estate sites like this one and this one warn about the alleged threat.Council members "are seized with the absolute necessity of acting," Chase maintains. "They talk about how many people this affects. But except for Jeanne Robb's friends on 7th" -- Robb told Westword she proposed regulations after spending months trying to get rid of a sizable 7th Avenue residential grow -- "there haven't been a lot of complaints."
Be that as it may, Chase says the special issues committee is expected to take another look at the issue again prior to final consideration before the city council as a whole, likely on October 25.
At that point, the public will be allowed to comment on what Chase calls "a welter of confusion. They claim to have four different ideas on the table, but from my perspective, they're all moving more or less in lockstep. It's just a very slow and confused process."
