March 22, 2021 — At a meeting that lasted nearly twelve hours, the Planning Commission agreed to recommend some of the expansion that was the main point of contention in 302 letters and four hours of public comment.
The Commission held two hearings on Friday, one on a cannabis facilities ordinance proposed by the Board of Supervisors, and another on a proposed major change to cultivation policy. Phase III is likely going to be replaced with a new chapter in the county code, which its proponents argue will give existing small cultivators a pathway to getting a state license at the beginning of next year.
The facilities proposal did not garner a huge amount of public opposition, though a member of the St Francis church in Hopland and the president of the guild wrote letters to oppose a provision that would allow cannabis facilities within 600 feet of a church. But the cultivation ordinance was another matter altogether. There was one item that drew united opposition from environmentalists, the Farm Bureau, one wing of the cannabis business community, several local MACs, and retired Sheriff Tom Allman. This was a proposal to allow property owners to apply to grow cannabis on 10% of a legal parcel zoned agland, upland residential, or Rangeland.
Under the new proposal, each grow would be subject to site-specific environmental review before receiving a discretionary permit. Some fear this would result in onerous environmental requirements, while others worry that protections wouldn’t be nearly enough. Still others, like Devon Jones, the executive director of the Farm Bureau, don’t have faith in the process as it stands now.
Sheriff Matt Kendall called in to make a case for resources to be allocated for enforcement. With unforeseen overtime, the sheriff’s office is currently projected to be more than a million and a half dollars over budget.
The Commission agreed to recommend that the board allocate resources to the Sheriff’s office and Planning and Building to implement the new ordinance, but couldn’t agree on exactly how much expansion in which zones they should allow. They eventually settled on recommending an increase between one acre and 5%.
