2008 Woodie Awards
Homeowners regulate pot grows
David Garrison
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Community
- Page 1 of 1
On the back of the white Victorian house on the corner of 9th and "D" Streets, there are 18 red mailboxes mounted to the wall.
For over 20 years, a constant stream of students retrieved their mail from the boxes.
Nina Bravo manages the property for her mother, who bought the house back in the 1980s. She said she gives students priority when she rents rooms because there aren't enough places for them to stay in Arcata.
She said that people who grow pot in houses are one of the reasons there is a housing crunch in town.
She wants Arcata to be a nice place to live for everyone - everyone but pot growers, that is.
In the house that Bravo manages, there are 10 rooms. Behind it, there are eight apartments. The students who live in the house share one kitchen and three bathrooms.
It is right next to Highway 101 and a constant growl of traffic rolls up to the doorstep. The rent is cheap, it's loud and it's crowded, but there is always someone who is ready to move in.
That allows her to make tough rules for her tenants. At the top of that list of rules is no growing pot.
"Not in my house," she said.
Arcata building official Dean Renfer has been in the construction business for 19 years. He said that indoor pot growing operations, which require high-wattage lights, aren't always safe. Tenants modify electrical systems to allow them to grow pot inside houses.
In Arcata, these electrical systems aren't legal. A mandate that requires safe electrical systems in houses has been in place for years. Nothing has changed about how the city detects modifications to electrical systems. The city doesn't do it, homeowners have to.
California's 215 medical cannabis laws in Humboldt County allow people to grow pot anywhere as long as it is on private land. The limits for these growers are simple; the plants can't occupy an area that is more than a 100 square feet. That allows for 99 starts and fewer mature pants.
For people who grow pot indoors they can use artificial lights, but no more than 1,500 watts. That's like having almost every light in Bravo's house turned on.
As long as medical growers comply with those laws, it's legal for them to grow pot in Humboldt County. The law doesn't say anything about where they can do it. That means they can do it in any old house. If homeowners don't want pot to occupy their homes, they have to sniff the plants out themselves.
Elizabeth Connor, director of the Humboldt Bay Housing Development Corporation, said that one of the problems with houses used to grow pot is that it depletes housing for people who need it.
She said that if homeowners check on their tenants and their houses to make sure everything is safe and up to code, it should help solve the housing problem.
This competition for rooms is good for homeowners. If they have a room or a house for rent, they can find someone to move into it without much hassle.
Bravo said that it's easy for her to rent out rooms. She also said that she'd welcome more competition if it meant that grow houses are gone.
"I'm against pot," she said.
David Garrison can be reached at dlg32@humboldt.edu
For over 20 years, a constant stream of students retrieved their mail from the boxes.
Nina Bravo manages the property for her mother, who bought the house back in the 1980s. She said she gives students priority when she rents rooms because there aren't enough places for them to stay in Arcata.
She said that people who grow pot in houses are one of the reasons there is a housing crunch in town.
She wants Arcata to be a nice place to live for everyone - everyone but pot growers, that is.
In the house that Bravo manages, there are 10 rooms. Behind it, there are eight apartments. The students who live in the house share one kitchen and three bathrooms.
It is right next to Highway 101 and a constant growl of traffic rolls up to the doorstep. The rent is cheap, it's loud and it's crowded, but there is always someone who is ready to move in.
That allows her to make tough rules for her tenants. At the top of that list of rules is no growing pot.
"Not in my house," she said.
Arcata building official Dean Renfer has been in the construction business for 19 years. He said that indoor pot growing operations, which require high-wattage lights, aren't always safe. Tenants modify electrical systems to allow them to grow pot inside houses.
In Arcata, these electrical systems aren't legal. A mandate that requires safe electrical systems in houses has been in place for years. Nothing has changed about how the city detects modifications to electrical systems. The city doesn't do it, homeowners have to.
California's 215 medical cannabis laws in Humboldt County allow people to grow pot anywhere as long as it is on private land. The limits for these growers are simple; the plants can't occupy an area that is more than a 100 square feet. That allows for 99 starts and fewer mature pants.
For people who grow pot indoors they can use artificial lights, but no more than 1,500 watts. That's like having almost every light in Bravo's house turned on.
As long as medical growers comply with those laws, it's legal for them to grow pot in Humboldt County. The law doesn't say anything about where they can do it. That means they can do it in any old house. If homeowners don't want pot to occupy their homes, they have to sniff the plants out themselves.
Elizabeth Connor, director of the Humboldt Bay Housing Development Corporation, said that one of the problems with houses used to grow pot is that it depletes housing for people who need it.
She said that if homeowners check on their tenants and their houses to make sure everything is safe and up to code, it should help solve the housing problem.
This competition for rooms is good for homeowners. If they have a room or a house for rent, they can find someone to move into it without much hassle.
Bravo said that it's easy for her to rent out rooms. She also said that she'd welcome more competition if it meant that grow houses are gone.
"I'm against pot," she said.
David Garrison can be reached at dlg32@humboldt.edu
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