Lodi residents don’t want pot farm near them

Six households on Manor Lane east of Lodi are worried that a planned cannabis business behind their properties will hurt the area, and they are hoping San Joaquin County planning commissioners will stop it from moving forward.

“This is not a well-regulated industry, which is a huge concern for us,” Manor Lane resident Stephanie Seabourn said. “These homes have been here 15 years or so. What is going to happen to our property values? This puts us in a really difficult position.”

Seabourn said she and her five neighbors received a notice from the San

Joaquin County Community Development Department in mid-April that a company calling itself Top Shelf Urban Farms, Inc., was planning to convert a property at 10400 East Highway 12 into a cannabis cultivation and distribution facility.

The project, according to plans posted on the department’s website, involves converting two existing buildings on the property totaling 51,720 square feet into uses for cultivation, while another 4,921 squarefoot building will be used for distribution.

A new, 25,200 square-foot structure will be constructed for additional cultivation purposes, according to project plans.

Seabourn and her neighbors are worried the project will create an unwanted odor, as well as attract criminal activity to the area. She said the plans call for armed guards to patrol the property 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I’m not comfortable with my backyard backing up to a business with armed guards,” neighbor Donna Kane said. “All you have to do is look at Calaveras County, or Modesto. People showed up at places like this in Modesto and beat up the guards to rob the place. We don’t want that in our area.”

In December, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested three men armed with assault rifles and pistols who stormed a cannabis business in Patterson and robbed the facility, according to the Modesto Bee.

Authorities are investigating if the incident is connected to another incident that month in which a guard was pistolwhipped during a robbery, the Bee reported.

With armed guards, Kane said the proposal calls for higher fencing and additional security lighting on the property, decreasing the quality of life for the residents on Manor Lane.

Kane said she and her neighbors have spent the last week notifying 200 people in the immediate area about the project so they could respond with concerns by the May 21 deadline.

“We don’t like it at all,” she said. “It’s certainly not a fit for the area. We’re all frustrated and we’re just doing what we can to get it stopped.”

Neighbor Bill Cook said one of the buildings planned for cultivation on the property is 35 feet from his property line. He said while he understands that all aspects of the cannabis business are now legal in California, there are other places in the county that would be better suited for what the applicant wants to do.

He suggested citing the project near the county landfill, or on property near the Plants and Produce Garden Center, located at 15777 East Harney Lane, both of which are so far removed from residential areas that it would not bother anyone.

Cook noted some residents on Manor Lane suffer from asthma, and the odor generated could trigger attacks. There is also a family with three children on Manor Lane, and Cook worried for their safety, especially if someone were to try to rob the business.

“If this goes in, I’m going to have to relocate,” he said.

Stephanie Stowers, the county’s senior planner overseeing the project’s application process, did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday.

Top Shelf Urban Farms is currently applying for a use permit, and the project is scheduled to be discussed by the San Joaquin County Planning Commission on June 4.

Residents have until Thursday to submit comments about the project, which Seabourn said not everyone is aware. She said only a few residents near the project received notice of the application.

In addition, neighbors said maps of the area submitted by the applicant to the county were outdated, as they did not depict the Manor Lane homes.

Zack Drivon, an attorney representing Top Shelf Urban Farms, Inc., was unavailable for comment.

“This all speaks to our quality of life, the value of our properties and safety,” Seabourn said. “This has been a beautiful community up until now. We’re all coming together to do something in the hopes to get as much information about the project to people as possible.”