Colorado Springs City Council votes to ban residential cannabis grows from apartments and some townhomes
The ordinance will take effect next month.
Growing your own cannabis will now be harder for those who live in Colorado Springs apartments, motel rooms, and certain townhomes, as city council members today voted to prohibit any and all home grows in these structures.
“This is strictly a safety concern, this is not a witch hunt,” said Councilmember Bill Murray, responding to a question as to whether or not the ban is aimed directly at cannabis users.
Specifically, the ban prohibits excessive plant growth in certain structures, extensive chemicals, and excessive electrical overload. It also limits the area of supplemental lighting for plant growth to 150 sq. ft. The ordinance does not prohibit anyone from growing plants in their home, as long as there are no grow lights and extensive chemicals involved. The ordinance makes changes to the city’s fire code, which allows firefighters to enter a home, with probable cause. The law will affect all apartments, motel rooms, and all townhomes with shared electricity.
“That said, we don’t want them to wander into a house, just because someone smells something bad, or has a grievance against their neighbor,” said Councilmember Murray. “The complaint has to be legitimate. The fire department doesn’t need to be chasing wild hares.”
“This ordinance seems to be another attempt by the Colorado Springs City Council to limit the constitutional rights for a medical cannabis patient to be able to grow the amount of medicine recommended by their physician,” said Jason Warf, Executive Director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council. “In lieu of the coming lawsuit against the city and state in regards to plant counts, they appear to be looking for other ways to attack this right. Again, we are seeing ordinances pushed on the basis of perceived fear instead of making fact-based policy. We feel strongly that this will be a losing effort in the courts.”
“I’m all for this ordinance, except for the square footage,” Bridget Dandaraw-Seritt of the Cannabis Patients Rights Coalition. “I don’t want anyone burning down their house.”
Talk about banning cannabis grows in apartments and townhomes began shortly after the fire department saw an increase in grow-related fires.
In a letter to the city council, dated June 23, Colorado Springs Fire Board of Appeals Chairman Roger Wallace stated, “The passage of the State Amendment to allow growing of Marijuana was done in great haste…little was done to insure the safety of the general public and the agencies that are tasked to protect our community.”
In addition, Wallace suggested that “the employees of city’s health department, police department, fire department and Colorado Springs Utilities put their lives in jeopardy when they enter a grower’s home…who purposely construct and operate grow facilities with no regard for current construction standards.”
On March 8, Colorado Springs firefighters responded to a home on Lassen Dr., engulfed in flames, the result of an overloaded electrical system. They found “roughly 25 plants” in the basement of the home. While the fire was ruled “accidental,” it called attention to the situation when city officials said local police and fire personal respond to “10 to 12” similar calls, a month.
According to Murray, high utility bills, or a spike in electricity will not be cause to enter a person’s home, but instead will be based solely on odor. Ordinance opponents argue that if smell is the main cause used to enter a person’s home, there are other plants which emit odors, as well as overcooked food.
“To be honest, percentage wise, 80 percent of these complaints are going to be marijuana,” said Councilmember Murray. “The smells, I don’t think, come from organic plants. There are additional chemicals involved. They can cause fires. Trying to find that balance is what we haven’t found yet. The devil is in the details. The whole reason for this is public safety. If this is used for any other reason, we will yank it.”
