Pot farm’s environmental report OK’d

CALEXICO — A majority of the Calexico City Council on Wednesday approved an environmental impact report and development agreement for what will be the city and county’s first cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility.

As a result of the council vote, cannabis-related product manufacturing is expected to commence in the next 30 days at the facility, Trinity 341, with cultivation efforts getting underway in February.

The council’s 4-0 vote during its special meeting was also hailed as a significant economic development for a city that in recent years has faced considerable financial distress.

Mayor Lewis Pacheco joined his colleagues on the council in highlighting the facility’s anticipated economic impact, and applauded the due diligence city officials had followed leading to Wednesday’s vote.

“It’s going to take time but we’re on the right track,” Pacheco said. “We’re doing the steps correctly.”

Wednesday’s vote approved Trinity 341’s environmental impact report, a resolution approving the certification of the EIR, a development agreement with the city, as well as an environmental mitigation and monitoring plan.

Councilwoman Maritza Hurtado was absent from last week’s special meeting that solely dealt with matters related to the Trinity cannabis facility.

The EIR had reviewed 11 areas of potential concern according to the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines, said Melanie Halajian, project manager for Ericsson-Grant Inc., which compiled the report.

Of those 11 areas, potential greenhouse gas emissions were found to be the only issue that could potentially exceed mitigation measures, Halajian said.

“That was the one impact area that was unavoidable, however mitigation measures were identified to reduce the gases to the extent feasible,” she said.

Some of those measures included the potential establishment of alternative energy sources to support the facility’s relatively high energy demand, Halajian said during her presentation to the council.

Prior to the council’s vote, an attorney representing the Laborers International Union of North America Local 1184 urged the council to deny the project’s approval and the EIR’s certification, and require revisions to the EIR in order to comply with state environmental law.

“We believe additional analysis is needed,” Rebecca Davis said.

Trinity’s EIR, Davis said during the meeting’s public comments session, failed to adequately analyze the project’s electrical infrastructure needs and demands.

The facility’s anticipated 28,000 metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions were also of particular concern to Davis, who said the amount far exceeded thresholds recommended by CEQA.

The mitigation measures outlined in the EIR were also unlikely to reduce such greenhouse gas emissions adequately, Davis claimed. Those measure included a variety of energy-reducing practices, such as rotating crop lighting and environmentally friendly design principles, to name a couple.

“The public has no way of knowing whether the developer will include all, some or none of the measures,” Davis said. “There’s no way to legally enforce any of these measures if the developer chooses to not implement them.”

Trinity 341’s EIR is also notable for being the only EIR to have been undertaken and achieved by a cannabis enterprise in all of California, said James R. Irwin Jr., Trinity founder and chief executive officer.

“That is how important we take our responsibility to shepherding our community environment,” Irwin said on Monday via email. “We undertook the EIR, at our sole expense and time and without any government obligation, because we are building a Best-in-Class cannabis enterprise of which the city of Calexico can be proud.”

The city, in conjunction with Trinity, had also issued a letter on Wednesday in response to LIUNA’s concerns about greenhouse gases. Aside from Davis’ public comments on Wednesday, the union had initially announced its concerns in the form of a letter to the city dated Aug. 16.

The city’s memo disclosed that the county Air Pollution Control District had determined that the facility’s greenhouse gases are mitigated at the utility or energy producer level and are not Trinity’s obligation.

The Trinity 341 project will be located in the 2400 block of Enterprise Boulevard, within the city’s cannabis overlay zone, and could potentially consist of up to four cultivation and manufacturing facilities, Irwin said.

The project is broken into two phases, with Phase 1 including the establishment of a cultivation and manufacturing facility, and transportation and distribution office. Phase 1 would come to a close with the start of cultivation in February.

Depending upon market conditions and access to capital, Trinity could build either two or three additional cultivation and manufacturing operations, Irwin said.

“I would start Phase 2 construction three to four months after we get the kinks worked out of Phase 1 operations,” he said.

The project is anticipated to bring in about $700,000 in taxes annually, as well as provide both short-and long-term employment opportunities.

“That’s what it’s all about,” said Jesus Eduardo Escobar during Wednesday’s meeting. “Economic development and jobs for the city of Calexico.”