We are asking you to Sign this Petition NOW to protect our public health and safety, quality of life, our surface and groundwater, our environment and property values by requesting the Yamhill County Commissioners to implement medical and recreational Marijuana Time, Place & Manner (TPM) Regulations. NOTE:  You can sign this petition whether you live in Yamhill County or not.

By State Law, Commissioners have local authority to regulate marijuana; however, Yamhill County Commissioners have not done so, bringing many public safety risks to our community. Almost every other County in Oregon has adopted these sensible Marijuana TPM Safety Regulations.

A majority of Yamhill County citizens opposed recreational marijuana production, processing, wholesaling, and retailing anywhere in the County in a 2014 vote  18,720-NO and 18,660-YES. At that time, YC Commissioners decided not to adopt TPM Regulations, but rather opted to “just wait and see” and use the County Site Design Review process to manage impacts in our EFU-20, -40, and -80 acre zones. 

The “wait and see” approach might have seemed logical at the time, but it left Yamhill County residents vulnerable to significant public health and safety impacts, wildfire risks, livability issues, major wildlife / environmental damage and financial impacts to property values.  

Currently Yamhill County DOES NOT require any of the following:

1.      Carbon filters: for indoor grows, overwhelming communities with a skunky odor that drifts for miles.  

2.      Setbacks: for outdoor marijuana grows to limit odors from neighboring property owners. For example, Clackamas County has a 100’ setback from all property lines for all outdoor grows. 

3.      Minimum lot size: on which marijuana can be produced or processed, allowing marijuana to be grown and chemically processed on small EFU lots.

4.      Marijuana extraction chemical processing: to be restricted to industrial zones only, putting neighboring property owners at risk of fires, often with no close fire suppression or Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue inspections. 

5.      Easement road: written permission from surrounding neighbors who use the same road, providing no say on increased traffic on narrow rural roads.

6.      A LIMIT on Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission (OLCC) Recreational Marijuana or Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Medical Marijuana licenses per tract of land:  Limiting licenses to 1 per parcel is important to keep EFU farmlands from being industrialized. For example, in Clackamas County a marijuana producer received approval for 60 metal ag buildings on a 20-acre parcel, poured 60’ x 100’ cement slabs, and leased them out to many different OLCC or OHA licensed growers.

7.      Control of greenhouse lighting: from 7:00 pm-7:00 am, impacting night skies and subjecting neighboring properties to all-night stadium-type lighting.

8.      Exterior lighting: restrictions on lighting directed skyward or outside the boundaries of the property.

9.      Noise control: limiting sound to 30 dB or 50 dB at the property line, thus allowing marijuana growers to use large commercial fans and generators in their greenhouses and buildings and keep neighbors awake at night.

10.  Permits for Water use: for marijuana production, so limited water availability, impact to underground or surface water, or requiring hauling in of water from a local supplier is not addressed.

11.  Fencing restrictions: so fencing could be over 10’ with barbed wire or other barriers, concertina coils, or anti-climb spikes.

12.  Security cameras: restrictions assuring that cameras are not monitoring their neighbors.

To Learn More About This Issue & Risks Involved:

Visit Our Website: www.SaveChehalemMountain.com or https://savechehalemmountain.com/

Send Us an Email: SaveChehalemMountain@gmail.com

To watch testimony of Neighbor Oregonians who have been negatively impacted by the above issues at Mollala Board of Commissioners Meetings click on these two videos.  Molalla Board of Commissioners LISTENED to the Residents and took action:

1)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGlQZk3jPQ8

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=c-tONqEg_w8&feature=youtu.be