The County Board of Supervisors struggled last week finding the right balance between protecting the environment and protecting neighbors from the smell of marijuana grows, yet not giving incentives to illegal growers and the black market with overly restrictive regulations and red tape.
After three hours of discussion at a special meeting last Monday, April 9th, county supervisors voted to adopt nearly all of the Planning Commission’s recommendations for changes to the draft ordinance that will license and regulate the cultivation of cannabis and manufacture of cannabis-related products in the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County.
“It’s been a long haul and an inclusive process, and we’re now finally putting the final touches on a very significant ordinance,” said First District Supervisor John Leopold. The process of drafting the rules and regulations for legal, commercial production and sale of marijuana started soon after California voters adopted Proposition 64, the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, in November, 2016.
Key issues at this point in the process, at least for several speakers who gave public testimony to the supervisors last week, centered on enforcement of the rules and protection of the timberlands and watersheds in the Santa Cruz mountains.
“These are the most important land use regulations the county will be facing for many years… (and) perhaps this is the best we can achieve at this point. But I would like to emphasize that without rigorous enforcement, this regulatory experiment is doomed to fail,” said Tom Hern, representing the Rural Bonny Doon Association, to the supervisors.
A significant change approved by supervisors is not allowing any new grows on land zoned for Timber Production or land zoned Residential Agriculture, as recommended by the Planning Commission. This came in response to serious concerns about impacts to rivers and streams, wildlife, and increasing fire hazard in the Santa CruzMountains resulting from any new marijuana cultivation. Those growers cultivating medical marijuana legally prior to January, 2013, without complaints by neighbors, are “grandfathered in” these zones.
The County Planning Commission made 18 specific recommendations to improve the draft ordinance following an “all day” meeting of the Planning Commission on March 14th. These recommendations addressed many details including set-backs from property lines, level of public notice and review in the permitting of new grows and manufacturing outlets, as well as a new category of licensing small-scale “cottage industries” of marijuana products.
A good deal of discussion centered on how to deal with the nuisance of strong odor emanating from marijuana grows, particularly those outdoors. The Planning Commission recommended that new grower should get the written consent of all neighboring property owners within 1,000 feet of a proposed, new grow site as part of the licensing process. This recommendation was considered too onerous by county supervisors, who said the requirement could result in an “open invitation to extortion or intimidation” of growers by their neighbors, according to Supervisor Leopold.
Although not following the “written neighbor consent” recommendation of the Planning Commission, supervisors did extend the setback requirement from neighboring houses from a 200 foot setback to a 400 foot setback, and directed staff to come back with more recommendations and methods to mitigate odors from outdoor marijuana grows. Cultivation of marijuana is not allowed in various residential zoning districts, except those zoned RA-Residential Agriculture, which are now limited to existing grows.
In the opinion of Jim Coffis, Deputy Director of Green Trade Santa Cruz, a coalition of cannabis growers and related businesses, this setback requirement is “overly restrictive”, and could be worse for many growers than getting the written consent of adjoining property owners as recommended by the Planning Commission.
Coffis wanted to know, given the minimum parcel sizes required for licensed grows in different zoning districts, how many parcels are going to be eliminated by this new, 400 foot set-back requirement, and how many existing growers that registered with the county back in November, 2016 will be effected.
Part of the problem with the 2016 state referendum that legalized the commercial sale marijuana to adults as of January 1, 2018 is that all the state and local licensing of the new industry was done on a temporary basis to meet that legalization date. Those temporary permits and licensing have been pending the adoption of all the local rules and regulations that will govern the new industry.
The county provided temporary, local authorization to about 750 growers that was required by the state so growers could in turn receive a temporary, state-issued license to grow and sell cannabis, all barely in time for January 1, 2018 legalization date.
According to Jim Coffis of Green Trade, what is most needed now is an expedited process for licensing the operators in good standing, who have been doing their best to meet all the rules and regulations thus far.
“In order to continue making a living in this new industry, while navigating all the planning and regulatory process at the state and local level- we need some certainty,” Coffis said.
The first reading of the new, hopefully final edition of the ordinance is scheduled for April 24th in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the Santa CruzCountyGovernmentalCenter at 701 Ocean Street.
