Some Baker City councilors are concerned that a proposed ordinance intended to prevent the odor from legal marijuana grows from affecting nearby residents’ quality of life could be used for other activities that produce aromas some people dislike.

Councilors voted 4-3 on April 9 to hear the first reading of the proposed ordinance.

They could consider the second reading — three readings are required for an ordinance to take effect — at their next meeting April 23.

The second reading couldn’t happen during the April 9 meeting because the vote on the first reading wasn’t unanimous.

Mayor Randy Daugherty and councilors Helen Loennig, Roger Coles and Larry Pearson voted for the first reading.

Councilors Doni Bruland, Loran Joseph and Nic Carman were opposed.

Bruland said she worries that the ordinance, as written, “is a horrible slippery slope” that could lead to residents asking for an ordinance that addresses other sources of odor.

Bruland made the same point during the council’s March 12 meeting.

“I mean, it’s going to start with marijuana but what happens when someone takes offense of the Sorbenots smell of burned coffee during the day?” Bruland said at that meeting. “At what point does this ball stop rolling? It starts with marijuana, does it go then to something else?”

During the April 9 meeting, Bruland also questioned a section in the ordinance that would allow the city manager, police chief or code enforcement officer to “abate by removal and disposal of the nuisance” if the owner of the marijuana grow who is cited under the ordinance doesn’t deal with the situation.

“I don’t think we can do that if these people are growing under Oregon legal rights and they’re certified, they have all the credentials,” Bruland said. “Does the city have the right to go in and take that business away? I don’t believe we do. I don’t see that we have absolutely any teeth at all in this.”

The ordinance reads, in part: “No owner of real property or person in charge thereof shall allow, permit or cause the odor of marijuana to emanate from that premises to any other property.”

The language is identical to an ordinance the Pendleton City Council adopted in 2015.

The council asked city staff to draft an ordinance after Stephanie Barger, who lives at 920 1/2 H St. in the northeast part of the city, told councilors Jan. 23 that odor from marijuana plants growing in a neighbor’s greenhouse was a nuisance.

Barger asked the council to adopt a “reasonable marijuana odor ordinance for both recreational and medical marijuana growers in residential areas within city limits.”

Councilors also heard on March 12 from Angelina Gomez, who with her husband owns the greenhouse at 3335 Birch St. Gomez told councilors that she and her husband are a state-licensed medical marijuana grow site.

Joseph said that although he thinks the proposed ordinance is the best compromise available, he voted against the first reading because he wants to ensure residents have a chance to attend council meetings and express their opinion about the matter.

“This addresses the single issue that has been brought forward to us in a way that gives the property owner leeway to the way that they want to deal with it, but it also extends to other nuisances related to this that other people have experienced,” Joseph said.

The other nuisances he mentioned include noise and lighting from marijuana grows.

Barger told councilors in January that noise from fans at her neighbor’s greenhouse left her with “no peace and tranquility on my own property.”

Baker City’s property maintenance ordinance, although it doesn’t mention marijuana grows, prohibits any “disturbing or unnecessary noise.”

The ordinance reads, in part: “Operating a blower, power fan, internal combustion engine, electric motor or compressor, or the compression of air, unless the sound from each machine is sufficiently muffled so as not to disturb the sleep, peace, quiet, comfort or repose of persons more than 30 feet away.”

Police Chief Ty Duby told councilors on March 12 that officers, responding to a neighbor’s complaints about noise from the greenhouse fans, concluded that the sound could potentially constitute a violation of the city’s property maintenance ordinance.

Gomez told councilors on March 12 that she and her husband, following complaints, installed a filter on the exhaust fan in the greenhouse that reduces both odors and noise.

Gomez said they plan to buy an activated carbon filter that she said would reduce odor by 99%.

“I don’t know if an ordinance should be established for the entire town, based off a small group complaint, especially when the majority of my neighbors do not find my marijuana offensive,” Gomez told councilors on March 12. “But we have no problem with complying to a fair and reasonable odor ordinance.”

Barger, who attended the council’s April 9 meeting, said she only wants to do away with the smell from the marijuana grow.

“I’ve never asked for anything more than that,” she said.

Another neighbor, Kim Teeter, concurred with Barger.