EDITOR: The ad on the back page of the front section of the April 4 paper nailed the cannabis explosion in our county. In the 1970s we complained about vineyards taking over pear and walnut orchards to no avail; money speaks. Our water table dropped and some wells were affected, but new dams and reservoirs…
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The new cannabis ordinance is not just planning policy; it’s economic policy. The Press Democrat has stated that 1 acre of cannabis yields $1,000,000 in revenues. If 15,000 acres go into cannabis cultivation, that is $15,000,000,000 in revenues for growers. Cannabis might be a plant but its extraordinarily high market value places it in a distinct category…
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The Community Voice Our supervisors are rapidly marching towards approving a cannabis ordinance that will significantly impact our wells and ground water at the same time that officials are asking for voluntary reductions in water use. According to the Napa County 9111 report, published in 2020, cannabis uses at least six times the amount of…
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EDITOR: Nearly every day I read another article about the severity of California’s drought crisis and how climate change compounds the impacts of drought. Many wells around Sonoma County are already critically low. Yet the public is receiving mixed messages from county leaders. Residents will need to conserve 30%-50% of water usage, Supervisor Linda Hopkins…
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We, the residents of Bloomfield, are extremely concerned about the eminent health and safety violations posed by the major revisions to the Commercial Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance of 2018, to our town, as well as other residential communities in Sonoma County. If any changes are to be made to the ordinance, they must be considered on…
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By Rollie Atkinson, Sonoma West Staff Apr 20, 2021 Narrow planning commissioners vote calls for a more comprehensive environmental impact study Plans of the Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors to streamline the permitting process for commercial cannabis cultivation may be headed for a detour following a close Sonoma County Planning Commission vote held last week…
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EDITOR: When I think of Sonoma County, I think of a picturesque drive through the countryside, through fields with cattle, orchards and wine grapes, trees and mountains surrounding me. The vistas are so wonderful and are the attraction for a dynamic tourism industry. All of this is in jeopardy if our supervisors vote for the…
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There are 300 permit applications in Sonoma County. Many appear to be out of town interests. The population of unincorporated Sonoma County is 146,739 So 0.2% of the population, at most, want to engage in marijuana production currently What price do the rest of us have to pay for those 0.2%? What are we willing…
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Commissioner, After listening to the Planning Commission meeting on 4/15 and reading the article in today’s PD, I am puzzled that you are worried about and are championing the small grower and think the amendments will help them. Don’t you know that Andrew Smith can already approve up to 10,000 square feet of cannabis cultivation…
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While county residents mull over the looming water scarcity brought on by two years of drought, our water crisis intensifies with the rollout of commercial cannabis, Napa’s “9111 Report” states cannabis water demand per harvest is six times that of grapes. That fact, added to grape taint, overspray, odor and aesthetics, led Napa county to…
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