Cannabis Fact of the Day #1 - County ignores cannabis warnings by Fish and Wildlife Department

Sonoma County staff don’t want to admit there are places without enough water to grow cannabis, so they’re ignoring the explicit recommendations of the CA Department of Fish & Wildlife.  Will the Board of Supervisors do the right thing and stop cannabis from being grown in the wrong places?  Or will they approve another faulty environmental review?

The Cannabis Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) doesn’t follow the recommendations of the California Dept of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). CDFW stated clearly their recommendation that any cannabis ministerial crop swaps should not be allowed unless there was no net increase of water use on a monthly basis. The FEIR and proposed cannabis ordinance fail to implement this recommendation of a trustee agency, violating the California Environmental Quality Act.

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Cannabis Fact of the Day # 2 - County's cannabis odor expert smells differently in Sonoma County

 
In Yolo County people can smell cannabis growing 2000 feet away, but somehow that’s not true in Sonoma County.  According to Sonoma County staff, here in Sonoma County you can’t smell cannabis growing 101 feet away!  Are our noses different?  How is it that possible?  Will the Board o fSupervisors agree that cannabis growing has an odor, and that Sonoma County noses deserve the same consideration as Yolo County noses?

The same consultant prepared air quality reports for Yolo and Sonoma counties and found that cannabis odor can be detect 1,000 to 2,000 feet away from the grow sites in Yolo county  but only 100 feet in Sonoma County. The FEIR is flawed. The distance odor travels does not vary from county to county.

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Cannabis Fact of the Day # 3 - County ignores family health and safety when setting the cannabis rules

Sonoma County staff doesn’t care about anyone living and working on our agricultural and resource lands. They think it’s FINE to make them live only 100 feet away from growing cannabis, while making sure that people livingin residential areas get to live 1000 feet away from growing cannabis! How is this fair or equitable? EVERYONE deserves to live 1000 feet away from growing cannabis. Will the Board of Supervisors make sure that everyone is treated equally?

There are 18,534 Ag/RRD zoned parcels with approximately 15,000 homes, many housing Ag workers. The proposal for a 100-foot setback to the property line for these homes is a Reduction from current regs. The PC recommendation for 1,000-foot setbacks does not apply to all residents. Some people will receive less protection because of how their parcel is zoned. All residents should be treated equally

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Cannabis Fact of the Day # 4 - County to allow Ag land to be paved over for pot

Simple math says that if 1 acre of cannabis needs a 2000 square foot building to dry the cannabis, then 10 acres will need a 20,000 square foot building, which is enormous. Is that true? No one will answer the question. A 20,000 square foot building on ag lands is NOT preserving our important agricultural resources. Will the Board of Supervisors demand an answer to this question, and limit the size of accessory buildings on our ag and resource lands?

Staff proposed and the Planning Commissioners approved “processing” which requires a 2,000 square foot accessory structure needed to dry one acre of cannabis. The maximum canopy proposed in the new ordinance is limited to 10% of the parcel. Under current law cultivation is limited to one total acre regardless of the size of the parcel. Under Staff’s proposal 10 acres of grow would be allowed ona 100-acre parcel. If an enormous accessory structure to dry cannabis 10 acres is also permittable, how does this “save” agricultural land?

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Cannabis Fact of the Day # 5 - County bringing cannabis crime to your neighborhood

Crime is already a problem for all cannabis operations, even those that are well managed and protected. Now Sonoma County staff thinks it’s a great idea to allow unprotected farm stands selling cannabis every place where cannabis is grown. Will these new farm stands all over the County be easy prey for the criminals already robbing dispensaries? Will the Board of Supervisors protect our County from more violent crime by prohibiting these farm stands?

Farmstands(accessory retail) will be allowed at all cultivation locations, as well as 104 events per year and ministerial crop swaps. These will be easy prey for those who are already robbing dispensaries. The California Highway Patrol told Permit Sonoma that it has “seen an increase in violent crime in and around more rural cannabis operations,” including armed robberies that “obviously puts public safety at risk as well as expends local law enforcement resources.”

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