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By John Darling For the Tidings February 25. 2015 8:17PM Should the city regulate outdoor pot growing? A medical marijuana grower tends his indoor garden using a variety of lighting. Daily Tidings / file photo With legal recreational marijuana, once seen as a wild fantasy, about to become real in Oregon July 1, the city of Ashland is taking at look at possible regulations on grows inside the city limits. The main worries are its odor and, for indoor grows, its intense energy use, a phenomena that could easily pop the city-owned utility up from tier one to tier two with the Bonneville Power Administration (our vendor), resulting in higher rates for all.  The distinctive smell of ganja may be lovely to users, but it tends to be quite the opposite for many non-users. But how do you regulate smell?  This city — and many others — are heading into terra incognito, readying to ramp up regulations that might have to be refined over the years. The city council this month gave staff instructions to start drafting an ordinance, outlining the do’s and don’ts of pot growing, even hinting at zoning to exclude it in certain areas — and not near schools. Other possible requirements are that the grower has to live there, so that no residences get turned into greenhouse-only situations, which would accelerate energy usage and diminish housing inventory.  Grows are already prohibited by the voter-adopted law from being in plain view and the city council is engaging the possibility of banning outdoor grows altogether inside the town.  We asked Ashlanders what rules and regs should be imposed on growing operations. The most clear answer is that many have only just started thinking about it, though there was a strong NIMBY (not in my backyard) feel to their thoughts. Susan Straub: I understand some forms of it are very odoriferous. Grows that smell bad to neighbors should be restricted. It should be limited to outside the city. We have close neighbors. It should not be permitted. There probably are types that don’t smell bad. It uses lots of power and impacts the rates of other users of power in the city. It would be better if it were outdoors. People who grow indoors should pay for their impact on the power cost increase.  Gerardo Gutierrez: You have to make it safe for everyone. No one should go to jail for it anymore. There should be some regulation though. I’m a father of two daughters. I don’t want to see it smoked in public. I’m not against it. It should be grown in designated areas that don’t interfere with family and houses, maybe outside the city. About the energy use, I work in renewable energy and I don’t believe in artificial energy. It’s a waste. The plants will do great in natural light and we have a long, sunny growing season.  Janet Anderson: I never had any marijuana in my whole life. I read that it’s smelly. I suppose I need to be concerned about it. I wouldn't want to be smelling it. Don’t grow anything smelly across the street from me! It uses a lot of electricity and will put us in a higher tier because of indoor growers. We non-growers should be protected from that. We shouldn't have to subsidize growers. I believe in representative government. I elected them to figure it out.  John Richardson: I imagine I’d like to see some limits on quantity. I hadn't thought about it. I’d like to see something done. I voted against it. Maybe it’s a generational thing. It got my attention. The hothouse growing would be a drain on our energy. I voted "yes" on taxing it. In the suburbs, it should be taxed by the ounce. There’s got to be a limit. We can’t reverse the vote (legalizing it). Moderation, the golden mean, is the way. We can’t have people going industrial, adding rooms and megawatts. Reach Ashland freelance writer John Darling at [email protected] .   What do you think? Have an opinion on this issue? Send a letter to the editor at www.dailytidings.com/sendletter. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150225/NEWS/150229893 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->