Company offers to cut megagrow plan to 8 acres

The Arcata Land Company has once again offered to slash its proposed 22.9acre cannabis project at the former Simpson Timber Mill site, this time down to eight acres.

Earlier this week, Planning and Building director John Ford confirmed the ALC’s offer to scale back the proposed project to 12 acres but said he did not know specifics.

“This is a further reduction from what we previously stated to staff,” Ford told the Times-Standard Friday morning. “We have renoticed the permit for a public hearing on April 22, 2021. We will evaluate the information provided to the County and the public will be given the opportunity to comment on this revised design.”

The proposed project will include 2.3 acres of outdoor light-depravation cultivation and 5.7 acres of mixed-light cultivation in new greenhouses. Lane DeVries, property owner of the proposed project and CEO of the Arcata-based floral company Sun Valley Floral Farms, said the ALC’s decision to downsize the project was in response to growing community concern.

“ALC has listened carefully to the concerns of the community related to its proposed cannabis cultivation project. After thoughtful consideration, ALC has voluntarily agreed to reduce its project from approximately 23 acres of cultivation to eight acres,” according to a statement from the ALC released Friday.

Though DeVries said the original project includes “measures to fully mitigate potential impacts” the ALC feels the downsized project “will further address some of the community’s concerns regarding the potential for odors, noise, traffic, water, and energy use.”

DeVries added the ALC “has made multiple attempts to set up a meeting with neighbors to no avail” but hopes to facilitate “constructive dialogue regarding the project” in the future.

The decision to downsize was also in response to the Humboldt County Grower’s Alliance’s (HCGA) opposition to the project, the statement said.

“HCGA indicated in two letters to the County that it would formally withdraw its opposition to a reduced scale project of eight acres or less,” according to the statement. “In an April 5 communication to (DeVries), HCGA executive director Natalynne DeLapp stated that ALC’s commitment to the reducedscale project was a valuable gesture and that HCGA would submit a letter withdrawing its opposition. ALC, as landowner and Headwaters as the project operator, both look forward to working with HCGA and continuing to foster a collaborative relationship.”

Previously, the HCGA said it “appreciate(s) the willingness of Arcata Land Company to consider alternative proposals in response to community feedback” but said it would not support the project unless it is “revised to less than eight acres of total size, and if it is in conformance with other legal restrictions.”

Reached by email Friday morning, DeLapp told the Times-Standard, “The Arcata Land Company’s revised project description, eight acres of new commercial cannabis cultivation, appears to conform to the legal standards held within Humboldt County’s two cannabis land use ordinances.”

The Humboldt County Planning Commission will continue its discussion on the project during a special meeting on April 22 at 6 p.m.

“... ALC has voluntarily agreed to reduce its project.” — Lane DeVries, property owner of the proposed project