Amador County Unincorporated
City Zoning Code

In 2015, Assembly Bill 266, Senate Bill 643, and Assembly Bill 243 were enacted to create the "Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act" ("MMRSA"). These bills created new regulatory and licensing schemes for medical marijuana at both the state and local levels effective January 1, 2016. Nothing in the MMRSA was interpreted to supersede or limit existing local authority to enact or enforce local regulations governing medical marijuana. The MMRSA was later changed in June 2016 to the "Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act" ("MCRSA").

On November 8, 2016, California voters passed Proposition 64, the "Adult Use of Marijuana Act" ("AUMA"), which established a comprehensive regulatory scheme to legalize, control and regulate the cultivation, processing, manufacture, distribution, testing and sale of nonmedical marijuana for use by adults twenty-one years and older. The AUMA permitted a county to enforce reasonable regulations for the cultivation of nonmedical marijuana for personal use, including prohibiting outdoor cultivation and banning nonmedical commercial marijuana activities.

On June 27, 2017, California enacted SB 94, the "Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act" ("MAUCRSA") to harmonize the recreational and medicinal marijuana regulatory schemes into one framework. Previously, the MCRSA created a regulatory and licensing structure for medical cannabis only, but upon passage of Proposition 64, MAUCRSA was adopted and largely relied on the regulatory structure outlined in Proposition 64. MAUCRSA repealed the MCRSA and changed references in the law from "marijuana" to "cannabis" among other changes.

MAUCRSA, codified at Business and Professions Code Sections 26000 et seq., sets forth a licensing scheme with respect to both commercial medicinal and recreational cannabis, but still allows local jurisdictions to retain control to completely ban or prohibit commercial cultivation and related activities and to reasonably regulate personal cultivation of cannabis through its local zoning and land use requirements.

Pursuant to Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution, the county may adopt and enforce ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws.

Amador County has a compelling interest in protecting the public health, safety, and welfare of its residents and businesses, in preserving the peace and quiet of its neighborhoods, and in protecting the quality of life and environment from the negative effects of cannabis cultivation, storage, processing, testing, manufacturing, sale, and distribution.

Large-scale medical cannabis cultivation increases the risk of criminal activity, degradation of the natural environment, and malodorous smells. As cannabis plants begin to flower, and for a period of approximately two months or more during the growing season, they produce an extremely strong odor that is offensive to many people and detectable well beyond property boundaries upon which they are grown. The strong odor of cannabis may create an attractive nuisance, alerting individuals to the location of plants, thereby creating the risk of potential crimes such as burglary, robbery, armed robbery, assault, attempted murder, and murder.

The monetary value of large-scale cannabis cultivation and related activities attracts crime and associated violence in this and other neighboring counties. In 2014, there was a robbery and attempted murder associated with a cannabis processing operation in Plymouth and in 2016, there was a cannabis-related home invasion robbery. In Calaveras County, there has been a substantial increase in cannabis-related crimes since the adoption of a 2016 urgency ordinance which temporarily allowed commercial medical cannabis cultivation.

The indoor cultivation of substantial amounts of cannabis poses potential health and safety risks to those living in the residence, especially to children, and includes the increased risks of fire from grow light systems, exposure to fertilizers, pesticides, anti-fungus/mold agents, and exposure to potential property crimes targeting the residence.

The cultivation of cannabis at locations or premises within the vicinity of schools, school bus stops, school evacuation sites, churches, parks, child care centers, or youth-oriented facilities creates unique risks that the cannabis plants may be observed by juveniles, and therefore, be especially vulnerable to theft or recreational consumption by juveniles. Further, the potential for criminal activities associated with the cultivation or distribution of cannabis in the proximity of such locations poses heightened risks that juveniles will be involved or endangered.

Amador County's location, geography, and climate are favorable to cannabis cultivation given the County's rural areas including heavily vegetated and sparsely populated areas.

The Federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I Drug, which is defined as a drug or other substance that has a high potential for abuse, that has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and that has not been accepted as safe for use under medical supervision. The Federal Controlled Substances Act makes it unlawful, under federal law, for any person to cultivate, manufacture, distribute or dispense, transport, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute or dispense, marijuana. The Federal Controlled Substance Act does not exempt the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, dispensation, transportation, or possession of marijuana for medical purposes.

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to conflict with federal law as contained in the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. 841, or to license any activity that is prohibited under the Act except as mandated by state law.

Indoor and outdoor planting, cultivation, harvesting, drying, curing, grading and trimming of cannabis are prohibited in all zoning districts in unincorporated Amador County, subject to the exemptions set forth in Section 19.84.060. This section shall not affect the right to use or possess cannabis as authorized by state law.

All commercial or industrial cannabis activity including but not limited to manufacture, distribution, processing, storing, packaging, labeling, laboratory testing, transportation, deliveries, and sales are prohibited in all zoning districts in unincorporated Amador County.

Indoor cultivation of adult-use cannabis by a person twenty-one years of age or older is limited to no more than six living cannabis plants at one time within a single private residence or upon the private residence in an accessory structure to the private residence that is fully enclosed and secure. The limit of six plants per private residence shall apply regardless of the number of individuals who reside at the private residence.

Indoor or outdoor cultivation of medicinal cannabis by a qualified patient or primary caregiver is limited to no more than twelve mature or immature plants per parcel. The limit of twelve plants shall apply regardless of the number of qualified patients or primary caregivers.

Notwithstanding the separate cultivation limits set forth above, in no event shall the combined total number of mature or immature plants, whether cultivated indoor or outdoor pursuant to either subsection A or B of this section, exceed twelve plants.

All cultivation must comply with the following conditions:

Whenever any enforcing officer determines that a public nuisance as described in this chapter exists within the unincorporated county, he or she is authorized to issue an initial warning as provided in Chapter 2.06 of this code.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, when any unlawful cannabis cultivation, manufacture, or any other cannabis activity prohibited by this chapter constitutes an immediate threat to public health or safety, and when the procedure set forth above in subsection A of this section would not result in abatement of that nuisance within a timely period to avoid a threat to health or safety, the enforcing officer may carry out any available legal or equitable remedies available under the law. The county may recover its costs for abating the nuisance in the manner described in Section 19.84.090.

Any person that owns or leases the property upon which cannabis is cultivated, manufactured, or distributed in violation of this chapter or otherwise violates any of the provisions of this chapter can be subject to all of the civil and administrative remedies as provided in Chapter 2.06 of this code, or any other remedy provided by law.

In any enforcement action brought to enforce the provisions of this chapter, each person who causes, permits, suffers, or maintains the unlawful cultivation, manufacture, or distribution of cannabis or other commercial cannabis activity to exist shall be liable for all actual costs incurred by the county, including, but not limited to, all administrative and investigative costs, including staff time and attorneys' fees, and abatement costs in the event the county brings and prevails in any administrative proceeding, civil suit, or other action to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

The remedies in this chapter are cumulative and nothing shall prevent the county from pursuing any civil, criminal, or administrative remedy deemed necessary or appropriate to gain compliance with state law and this code.