Strange bedfellows behind Sonoma County’s cannabis push
The North Bay Leadership Council endorsed an extreme cannabis ordinance that invites massive outdoor cultivation in Sonoma County. Friedman’s Home Improvement, Comcast, Redwood Credit Union, Wells Fargo Bank, Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Health, and Sutter Health are on its letterhead.
The proposal eliminates health, safety, and nuisance protections for anyone subjected to noxious terpene pollution—the skunk-like stench from cannabis plants. Petaluma-area residents successfully sued a commercial grower for nuisance when odors invaded their homes. It caused significant breathing problems for an adult with asthma and a young paraplegic who needs a breathing tube.
Why do these companies squander their precious credibility? Should anyone do business with enterprises that think residents don’t deserve to breathe clean air?
The council is dominated by large corporations such as Cannacraft, SPARC, a Big Cannabis law firm, and newspapers controlled by a prominent cannabis lobbyist in Sacramento. Curiously, the council doesn’t promote outdoor cultivation in Marin County, which bans it. Many of its corporate members are based there, and CEO Cynthia Murray is a former Marin supervisor.
Why not festoon Mount Tam with hideous hoop houses and greenhouses that resemble industrial self-storage units? Shouldn’t Marin residents breathe terpenes too?
Mindless boosterism is not leadership.
— Craig S. Harrison, Santa Rosa
Original letter from North Bay Leadership Council
March 3, 2021
Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, Chair
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Room 100A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Via Email
Re: Comments on Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration, Commercial Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance, Proposed Amendments to Chapter 26 of the Sonoma County Code and General Plan Amendment
Dear Chair Hopkins and Supervisors:
The cannabis industry is a bright light for the Sonoma County economy now and in the future, if we allow the industry to flourish and reach its potential to produce good jobs, provide more revenue for local governments and local businesses, and boost tourism. The industry has been stymied by a regulatory morass and over-taxation that has stunted its growth when it is sorely needed to help with our economic recovery.
North Bay Leadership Council (NBLC) wants to see the cannabis industry become a marquee product of Sonoma County like other ag related businesses such as wine, cheese and beer. The Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration, Commercial Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance, Proposed Amendments to Chapter 26 of the Sonoma County Code and General Plan Amendment miss the mark and are not what is needed at this time if we want to see the economic benefits that are readily available if we do the right things.
Here is a list of our concerns, please note they are not in order of importance:
- Concern: Water
Recommendation: Do not include in regulations and instead let the State Water Board manage water. - Concern: Cultural resources
Recommendation: Request to eliminate across-the-board tribal approval and regulate like all other agriculture crops. - Concern: Tree protection
Recommendation: Eliminate the tree language in the cannabis ordinance and instead reference the larger tree policy that is currently being created. - Concern: Important farmlands
Recommendation: There should be no 1:1 offset for cannabis, and this should be regulated like other agriculture crops. - Concern: Ridge top protection
Recommendation: Eliminate this in the cannabis regulations and manage it using the same language as other agriculture for consistency. - Concern: Slope planting limitations
Recommendation: Eliminate this in the cannabis regulations and manage it using the same language as other agriculture for consistency. - Concern: Hoop houses
Recommendation: Establish policy to allow hoop houses to be permanent on property to reduce unnecessary material and labor waste, as well as improved sustainability because of reduced water usage. - Concern: Energy/ Generators
Recommendation: Eliminate this in the cannabis regulations and manage it using the same language as other agriculture for consistency. - Concern: Operational hours
Recommendation: These are already regulated by the state, so no local regulations are necessary. - Concern: Events
Recommendation: Align events with the greater event policy with which the wine industry is complying to ensure community benefit and the opportunity for participation in the state event licensing program. - Concern: Fire prevention
Recommendation: Eliminate this in the cannabis regulations and manage it using the same language as other agriculture for consistency. - Concern: Wastewater
Recommendation: This is already regulated by the State, so no local regulations are necessary. - Concern: Lighting
Recommendation: Eliminate this in the cannabis regulations and manage it using the same language as other agriculture for consistency.
NBLC also supports ag tourism and urges that cannabis events be regulated like other agricultural events. We request that language be added to provide for a Conditional Use Permit that would allow for cannabis retail onsite on parcels with commercial cannabis cultivation and setbacks consistent with other cannabis operations. The CUP process would ensure extensive environmental and public review and be subject to state regulations.
The benefits for supporting cannabis retail on agriculture parcels includes creating new revenue streams for ag operations, providing stability in times of agriculture disasters, diversifying the tourist opportunities for ag land, and will ultimately add another layer to Sonoma County’s extremely diverse and inclusive agriculture brand and reputation.
Cannabis is having a national moment, with 36 states having some form of state cannabis legalization and full federal legalization on the horizon. California is the largest cannabis market in the world, with the reputation of growing the best cannabis in the world, because of genetics, terroir, and our culture of cutting edge, modern products. Our county’s agricultural base is primed to embrace cannabis by adding to the diversity of crops and allowing our ag producers to thrive.
In a recent survey by the California Cannabis Tourism Association, in partnership with MGMY Intelligence, 1,500 Americans across the country with a minimum annual household income of $50,000 were surveyed. Forty-four percent of millennials surveyed report that they have consumed cannabis and have traveled for a cannabis experience. Interestingly,
58% of boomers have never experienced cannabis but say they plan to travel within the next 12 months to have a cannabis experience.
The market demand is strong and will be a boon to the Sonoma County economy if we can get cannabis regulated and taxed reasonably. Thank you for your consideration. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Murray
President & CEO
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair
PATTY GARBARINO
President
Marin Sanitary Service
Vice Chair
ALON ADANI
Owner
Cornerstone Properties
Secretary/Treasurer
MICHELLE AUSBURN
Partner
BPM LLP
Executive Committee
BARRY FRIEDMAN
President & CEO
Friedman’s Home Improvement
PAT KENDALL
Medical Group Administrator
Kaiser Permanente
JORDAN LAVINSKY
Partner
Hanson Bridgett LLP
KATHRYN LOWELL
Vice President, Government Affairs & Advocacy
BioMarin
CRAIG NELSON
Chairman
Nelson Family of Companies
MARK WOOD
Chairman Emeritus
North Bay Leadership Council
JOHN COSTA
Government Relations Manager
Pacific Gas & Electric
TIFFANY DEVITT
Chief of Government & Consumer Affairs
CannaCraft
AIMI DUTRA KRAUSE
Public Relations Director
The Dutra Group
ALEX KHALFIN
Vice President of Public Affairs
California Apartment Association
NORMA KOSTECKA
Publisher
North Bay Business Journal
INGRID ESTRADA
CAO
Keysight Technologies
STEVE FALK
CEO Sonoma Media Investments
Press Democrat
DARRYL HAWKINS
VP, Field Operations Northeast Bay Area
Comcast
TYLER HEDDEN
COO
St. Joseph Health
DARREN LASHELLE
President & CEO
Northern California Public Media
DR. YUNG-JAE LEE
Dean, Andrew P. Barowsky School of Business
Dominican University of California
BRETT MARTINEZ
President & CEO
Redwood Credit Union
MEAGAN MOORE
CAO
Buck Institute For Research on Aging
DEREK NELSON
Collections Operations Manager
Recology
ERICH PEARSON
CEO
SPARC
LESLIE PERRY
Partner
Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz LLP
MIKE RYAN
North Bay Practice Leader
INTERWEST INSURANCE SERVICES, LLC
JUDY SAKAKI
President
Sonoma State University
SHANNON THOMAS
Administrator/Chief Nurse Executive
Novato Community Hospital
Sutter Health
FRED VELA
Regional Vice President
Wells Fargo Bank
CYNTHIA MURRAY
President & CEO
KATE MURRAY
CAO
775 Baywood Dr .
Suite 101 Petaluma, CA 94954
707.283.0028
www.northbayleadership.org
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