6a) Discussion and Possible Action Including Cannabis Cultivation Phase 1 Update and Direction to Staff in Regard to Related Priorities
(Cannabis Ad Hoc Committee of Supervisors Williams and Haschak)
Respected Supervisors: I am a licensed cannabis cultivator, located in Covelo Core. I support the Memo regarding this item from Covelo Cannabis Advocacy Group. Thank you for your efforts to straighten out this mess.
We appreciate & support you deliberating on the subject of cannabis as it pertains to the businesses who have been in the County program for the past few years, aka. phase 1. Please consider the input from CCAG & MCA. We local stakeholders, who have been engaged with the County & the community throughout this process, look to them time & again for clarity as the complexity of cannabis regulation rollout is unmatched, their wisdom & skills unparalleled. Their organizational memos on this item are, as usual, full of excellent information & we, as a 10,000 sq foot outdoor farm in Round Valley, mirror many of their questions.
There are a multitude of issues for both phase 1 & phase 3 that still need clarification, from SSHR to CEQA to consultants to County staffing, etc. It has been a choppy path so far, fraught with much uncertainty as we move forward. For us, at the time of our most recent permit renewal it came up that we are one of the permits (issued since 2017) that needs SSHR & air quality reports, yet we are still unclear who is supposed to conduct the reports, the County or a consultant? Hopefully, today's BOS item & tomorrow's Ad Hoc Town Hall meeting will provide more answers, a clear commitment from the County to it's community of cultivators that we are in it together.
It is also absurd to have such a low income bracket for the Equity allowance, how can anyone be able to have afforded the fees & taxes associated with entry to the cannabis industry yet still qualify for this assistance. It makes no sense if it was meant, as so many have been saying, to help legacy farmers through this transition.
Phase 1 must be able to continue to cultivate while seeking the pathway to State license, this seems it should be the hallmark difference between phase 1 & phase 3. It could conceivably be put into an emergency ordinance. When members of the Board of Supervisors themselves use terms in public meetings like "shitshow" & "extinction event" it seems like a signal we are surely moving toward a crisis... one that we still believe can be averted.
We realize our hopes & dreams, our livelihood & life's work, are at this time still contingent on many variables out of our direct control, including the State legislature's February vote to extend Provisional licenses. But we also feel that they will pass the extension, so let's be ready to assist all who can to get all the way through to Annual license.... that has always been & still IS the goal!
While today's item is about phase 1, we realize it is inextricably tied to phase 3, so we want to take another opportunity to express our opposition to the 10% increase, consider starting smaller increments & a multi year roll out. (This quandary we are in is not a matter of why haven't the farmers been taking care of it all this time, all this time the farms have been told by the County they had this covered, by Staff & Supervisors, for years, only to find out over the past few months that is not the case.) Phase 1 are tiny projects compared to what is now being floated as phase 3 in our County. The questions of Rangeland & other zones, minor use permits, etc. are all being blown out of proportion & given the chance in many ways can prove to be better positioned for phase 1 farms to continue to cultivate our homesteads. There must be a way!
Mendocino is celebrated in cannabis like wine is celebrated in Napa. Small farms growing sustainably are the core of the cannabis in this County. Designating cannabis as agriculture is another key toward parity between cannabis, hemp & other crops. All of the above is needed as the world moves toward the future of almost certain national legalization & even international trade.Thank you again for your time.
Respected Supervisors: I am a licensed cannabis cultivator, located in Covelo Core. I support the Memo regarding this item from Covelo Cannabis Advocacy Group. Thank you for your efforts to straighten out this mess.
Dear Honorable Supervisors,
We appreciate & support you deliberating on the subject of cannabis as it pertains to the businesses who have been in the County program for the past few years, aka. phase 1. Please consider the input from CCAG & MCA. We local stakeholders, who have been engaged with the County & the community throughout this process, look to them time & again for clarity as the complexity of cannabis regulation rollout is unmatched, their wisdom & skills unparalleled. Their organizational memos on this item are, as usual, full of excellent information & we, as a 10,000 sq foot outdoor farm in Round Valley, mirror many of their questions.
There are a multitude of issues for both phase 1 & phase 3 that still need clarification, from SSHR to CEQA to consultants to County staffing, etc. It has been a choppy path so far, fraught with much uncertainty as we move forward. For us, at the time of our most recent permit renewal it came up that we are one of the permits (issued since 2017) that needs SSHR & air quality reports, yet we are still unclear who is supposed to conduct the reports, the County or a consultant? Hopefully, today's BOS item & tomorrow's Ad Hoc Town Hall meeting will provide more answers, a clear commitment from the County to it's community of cultivators that we are in it together.
It is also absurd to have such a low income bracket for the Equity allowance, how can anyone be able to have afforded the fees & taxes associated with entry to the cannabis industry yet still qualify for this assistance. It makes no sense if it was meant, as so many have been saying, to help legacy farmers through this transition.
Phase 1 must be able to continue to cultivate while seeking the pathway to State license, this seems it should be the hallmark difference between phase 1 & phase 3. It could conceivably be put into an emergency ordinance. When members of the Board of Supervisors themselves use terms in public meetings like "shitshow" & "extinction event" it seems like a signal we are surely moving toward a crisis... one that we still believe can be averted.
We realize our hopes & dreams, our livelihood & life's work, are at this time still contingent on many variables out of our direct control, including the State legislature's February vote to extend Provisional licenses. But we also feel that they will pass the extension, so let's be ready to assist all who can to get all the way through to Annual license.... that has always been & still IS the goal!
While today's item is about phase 1, we realize it is inextricably tied to phase 3, so we want to take another opportunity to express our opposition to the 10% increase, consider starting smaller increments & a multi year roll out. (This quandary we are in is not a matter of why haven't the farmers been taking care of it all this time, all this time the farms have been told by the County they had this covered, by Staff & Supervisors, for years, only to find out over the past few months that is not the case.) Phase 1 are tiny projects compared to what is now being floated as phase 3 in our County. The questions of Rangeland & other zones, minor use permits, etc. are all being blown out of proportion & given the chance in many ways can prove to be better positioned for phase 1 farms to continue to cultivate our homesteads. There must be a way!
Mendocino is celebrated in cannabis like wine is celebrated in Napa. Small farms growing sustainably are the core of the cannabis in this County. Designating cannabis as agriculture is another key toward parity between cannabis, hemp & other crops. All of the above is needed as the world moves toward the future of almost certain national legalization & even international trade.Thank you again for your time.
Sincerely , Laura & Marty Clein