CANNABIS IN THE COUNTY
98% of letter writers oppose Phase Three provisions
On March 19, the Mendocino County Planning Commission reviewed Phase Three Commercial Cannabis Activity Ordinance and, after receiving 407 letters (98 percent of which were against the provisions of the ordinance), the commissioners did not oppose the discretionary use permit system, leaving permitting to the discretion of the Planning Department; did not object to passing the proposed ordinance without environmental review, did not oppose the opening of rangelands to new cultivation permits and did not fully oppose the 10 percent provision. The commissioners did support the expansion of cultivation site sizes and allowed for the possibility of farm tours, sales, consumption and events at every cultivation site.
According to Kate Marianchild, author of “Secrets of the Oak Woodlands,” “During her presentation to the Planning Commission on March 19th, Assistant Planning Director Julia Krog steered the commissioners’ attention away from the many public comments objecting to the adoption of the ordinance at
all, ignoring the comments that addressed the supervisors’ flagrant irresponsibility in imposing a discretionary use permit ordinance on the county without environment review.
“She failed to mention the extensive public opposition to the opening of rangelands and the widespread objection to any expansion in the number and size of cultivation sites in this county. Following her remarks, not a single commissioner had the courage to question whether the proposed ordinance should be adopted; they all, instead, began discussing its particulars.”
Although there were some duplicate letters and a handful of letters in support including Flow Kana, Cannacraft, Leaf Holdings and Henry’s Original, the overwhelming majority, including the following, opposed the new ordinance: the Mendocino County Farm Bureau, the Sierra Club, former Sheriff Tom Allman, Sheriff Matt Kendall, Ukiah Daily Journal Editor KC Meadows, Mendocino Observer Editor Jim Shields, the Round Valley County Water District, the Covelo Community Services District, the Willits Environmental Center, the Covelo Cannabis Advocacy Group, the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance and the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council.
Following are excerpts from some of the letters. (All available for reading on the Mendocino County Planning Commission’s website.)
Greenfire Law, PC, legal counsel to the Willits Environmental Center, states that requiring a separate CEQA review for each new site, as well as for all Phase One applicants, will create an impossible burden for small commercial applicants as well as overworked staff and under-resourced regulators and law enforcement. Gridlock is ensured.
That this opens up the county to massive corporate growers with deep pockets, to the detriment of smaller growers who do not have the resources.
That the Commercial Cannabis Activity Ordinance (CCAO) blows the limits off the 2017 Ordinance’s cap on water use, wildlife disruption, soil and water pollution, traffic, light pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and site disturbance.
That the CCAO will open up the Rangeland Zones that are not well suited to cannabis cultivation: dry streams are already taxed and the land is particularly vulnerable to wildfire. These remote lands are especially difficult to monitor and protect.
That the CCAO allows Phase Three cultivation with trucked water.
As recognized by numerous studies, widespread commercial cannabis cultivation without careful regulation results in massive environmental impacts ranging from traffic to solid waste to harm to wildlife.
That the addition of tens of thousands of acres of cannabis cultivation in the Rangeland district is inconsistent with the General Plan that presently requires: Stream corridors, riparian habitats and water resources be protected; existing users of water are given priority over new users; the County must avoid fragmentation of its natural landscape; land and natural resources must be used in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner; and wildlife corridors must be identified and maintained.
Sheila Jenkins, a land owner in Willits, states that with good planning we can protect the beauty of our lands, our wildlife and water resources and tourist industry. Much of the degradation to our environment, our sense of community and our safety has occurred because of the cannabis industry and this proposal does not offer meaningful solutions for correcting these damaging impacts.
Ellen Drell states the board is rushing this proposal forward so that they can take advantage of a regulation that allows the county to pass the CCAO without an environmental review (CEQA). The board is proposing changing our hard-won ordinance with a use permit process that will leave all the decisions to the discretion of the Planning Department staff.
This will eliminate the following protections in our existing ordinance: A prohibition on new operations on the County’s Rangeland Zone; a cap on the size of the grow sites of 10,000 sq ft per permit; a 2 permits per parcel limitation; protections against tree removal; a generator phase-out timeline; and protections against light pollution.
This new proposal will allow for massive expansion of the size and number of cannabis grows in the county including large commercial grows through a Use Permit process to be issued for a minimum of 10 years and accompany the property regardless of owner.
The Board of Directors of Covelo Community Services District are opposed to the proposed expansion of cannabis cultivation with the 10 percent provision due to multifold concerns for public, water and land health.
Their community is plagued with unprecedented criminal activity notably related to the proliferation of cannabis cultivation and to allow increased cultivation further jeopardizes the health and safety of the valley’s residents. The sheriff’s department is currently unable to effectively maintain the safety needs of the valley and an additional burden on them is simply unconscionable.
The CCSD currently has a moratorium on new service connections due to unprecedented levels of biological/ oxygen/chemical demands in their influent. Through water testing, it has been concluded that the most likely source is from cannabis processing.
There is an unending amount of illegally dumped trash and the land would be further at risk with the proposed expansion of cannabis cultivation.
There is lack of any environmental review or oversight of any kind; there is insufficient water and drought; an EIR must be completed before proceeding including at a minimum: geomorphological models as well as longitudinal monitoring studies of groundwater capacities and limits.
Round Valley County Water District’s letter states that the 10 percent provision could deplete the aquifer and result in wells for existing users going dry.
The last few years in Round Valley has seen a dramatic increase in cannabis cultivation and the water requirements are supported by an immense unregulated well water pumping and delivery businesses, the significant impacts of which have been neither monitored nor ameliorated.
Given the intense demands of water for cannabis cultivation during the time of the year when the aquifer is at its lowest will most likely result in a decline in the availability of domestic water use for those in Round Valley. Chemicals and the drought are also of major concern.
Charlotte Beaumont of Laytonville claims that two neighborhoods have had water in their wells diminished by Henry’s Original corporate grows by their water grab; they have done nothing to maintain shared roads and have no concern for neighborhood impacts.
Marc Komer, chairman of the board of directors of the Shafer Ranch Road Association in southwest Willits, states that the parcel where he lives is surrounded by cannabis farmers who, in mid-summer, import water in trucks weighing 250,000, breaking down and degrading the roads that pot farmers do not pay to repair. There is illegal deforestation and grading for hoop houses, some of which have all night grow lights; vast amounts of trash; and diversion of seasonal creeks.
The Planning Department does not have the manpower or resources to investigate these offenses nor the capacity to force remediation much less an expansion.
Jim Shields, Mendocino Observer editor, writes in his most recent UDJ column that the 10 percent rule and rangeland to pot land proposal must be withdrawn because they are lousy public policy. Remember, the only goal of public policy is to accomplish the most good for the most people. Their public policy is the antithesis of that objective.
They must re-write the proposed ordinance to reflect the original intent of legalization in this county: The recognition of the value of the legacy farmers who founded and created this local industry that should not ever be handed over to outside corporate interests.
Former Sheriff Tom Allman strongly objects to rangeland becoming weedland saying the balance of power is being swayed by corporate greed.
Sheriff Kendall states we are seeing terrible crime and atrocities committed against persons and the environment within our communities—on a daily basis.
We will not be successful without more enforcement and oversight; presently we have one enforcement officer in Covelo and he is unable to cut down all the illegal grows.
Round Valley is a good predictor of the future for all our communities if we don’t get ahead of this problem—illegal cultivation, violence the likes of which we have never seen, piles of trash and general lawlessness.
I do not know the answer but we cannot allow this problem to grow exponentially. Phase Three will only create a larger problem. I feel like I have been asked to slay a dragon. Allowing this will simply be stacking up more dragons to battle.