Elk Grove medical marijuana growers could find their agricultural activities facing heavy oversight in the months ahead, thanks to a City Council plan to impose stringent regulations on cultivation sites.

"It's a shame that it has to come to this sort of thing," Councilman Pat Hume said in an interview Thursday. "But there's too much abuse and wanton disregard for (neighbors at cultivation sites)."

The City Council last week set in motion staff work on a draft ordinance that could force pot growers to keep their cultivation out of sight – either in a separate, secure structure behind a home and away from fence lines or indoors – with a permit. Either option could require an inspection.

Elk Grove is the latest jurisdiction in the region to tackle the issue, driven at least in part by the spate of violence that has accompanied growing sites throughout the region.

Sacramento County in June failed to act on an urgency ordinance that, among other things, would have banned outdoor marijuana cultivation in unincorporated areas and would have limited the number of plants that could be grown indoors.

But ordinances with varying cultivation restrictions have been approved in Rancho Cordova, Rocklin and Chico, the Elk Grove Police Department reported.

Hume, who had urged council discussion of the issue, said he was concerned that the state's compassionate use law aimed at seriously ill patients didn't extend compassion to growers' neighbors, a recording of the Wednesday meeting shows.

Robert Faulkner, a longtime Elk Grove resident, told council members he keeps a fan in his backyard pointed at the neighbor's house "because I can't stand the smell."

"My house stinks," Faulkner told the council. "My wife can't go into the garage. I can't use the swimming pool. It's a problem, folks. You need to do something about it."

Elk Grove Police Capt. Bryan Noblett laid out the options, drawing from a half-dozen jurisdictions from Fort Bragg to Rancho Cordova.

One of the toughest ordinances exists in city of Corning, Noblett said. It limits cultivation to a secured, detached structure behind a home and enclosed by a 6-foot solid fence. It requires mechanical ventilation and a security system that is approved by a building official or by police.

Councilman Jim Cooper said that 15 years ago he voted for Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act that legalized marijuana for medical use.

These days, he said, he has voter's remorse. Virtually anybody can get marijuana under the act, he said.

"I could go down right now and get a (medical marijuana) card just to cope with the council meeting," he joked.

On a serious note, he urged that growing be limited to outbuildings because of in-home fire danger associated with lights for indoor growing.

Hume, however, said that growing sites could be allowed in occupied homes with regulations. Among them, written permission would be required from owners and growing lights would have limits on wattage.

Police Chief Robert Lehner weighed in to summarize the council's direction: "The key is the unwanted effects on neighbors and passersby. If we focus on that and bring forward a proposal that mitigates the (public) effects to zero while still permitted under the Compassionate Use Act, I think we'll strike that balance."

In recent weeks, there have been several episodes of violence.

A Rancho Cordova man was injured late last week in a scuffle with a gunman the victim said was attempting to steal his medical marijuana.

Earlier in the week, another man died and five were arrested after a shootout at the site of a commercial marijuana growing operation in rural Amador County.

Also, a man was killed at the site of a medical marijuana patch in Del Paso Heights less than two weeks ago.

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