Nevada County had a very busy first year in responding to complaints regarding compliance to the new cannabis growing ordinance. The county’s Code Compliance Program Manager Jeff Merrimam says they received 197 complaints, after the ordinance was passed in May of last year, especially with the wildfire concerns…

But Merriman says the number of complaints actually represents a small fraction of the amount of illegal grows that are out there. He says the county is still trying to resolve 46 of those cases. But he says 60 property owners have responded properly when notified…

The ordinance only allows indoor growing of no more than six plants for personal use in residential areas. Larger medicinal cultivation is allowed in Agricultural and Forest zones, if the properties are on five acres or more. The largest grows allowed are ten-thousand square feet, which must be on at least 20 properly zoned acres. There must also be 100-foot setbacks from property lines, and one-thousand feet setbacks from schools, churches, parks, and daycare centers.