4i) Noticed Public Hearing - Discussion and Possible Action Including Adoption of an Ordinance Rezoning 207 Assessor's Parcel Numbers (APNs) in the Redwood Valley area to add a Cannabis Prohibition (CP) Combining District (R_2021-0002) to the Current Zoning Designations of Rural Residential (RR-1) and Agricultural (AG)
(Sponsor: Planning and Building Services)
I strongly oppose the the proposed prohibition zoning of cannabis cultivation in Redwood Valley. The current county and state regulations on cannabis farmers is the most tightly regulated of any type of agriculture in the state. The voices supporting this are few and threaten small legacy farms not only in this district, but throughout the county. The emerging small scale craft cannabis sector is one of the most promising economic drivers moving forward for our county. As a resident in the county for 30 years, a small business owner, and one of the 34 members of the state’s Entrepreneurship & Economic Mobility Task Force (EEMTF) with CalOSBA under the governor’s office, we need to open opportunities for economic growth in our county, not shut them down. Isolating and prohibiting cannabis cultivation over other agricultural crops is prejudicial and continues to stigmatize part of our state and county’s cultural heritage. I ask you to not support the further restrictions that a very few want to put on our local economy.
Respectfully,
Jim Roberts
The Bohemian Chemist
The Madrones & The Brambles
Sugar Hill Farm, LLC
I am submitting the letter below that was submitted by to the Planning Commission earlier this year.
I object to the Prohibition District and support the MCA memo and the memos submitted by Emerald Law Group.
I am a resident of Redwood Valley, outside of the proposed prohibition zone. My husband and I are both second generation cannabis farmers. We are in process on three permits in Mendocino County and three licenses at the state level. We have struggled to maintain our business since 2105 when the regulatory process started for cannabis farmers in California. We have spent every last dollar to get and stay regulated, that is not an easy or cheap task.
We hope you consider the people who want to cultivate legally are the people contributing to our local economy and community, we want to keep people in business, keep families in Mendocino County and support our local economy.
The prohibition district aims to shut down multiple existing operators in the process of creating further exclusion with
underlying prohibitionist thinking. This is NOT a way to remove illegal grow operations, this only further divides and harms our community.
Please reconsider and work to keep people in business.
Thank you for your time- Chiah Rodriques
Watching the Planning Commission meeting on this issue was painful. There were many negative comments that seemed to come from extreme prejudice. The “cannabis is okay but not in my backyard” crowd was disheartening in an agricultural community. But the neighbors with racial overtones were even more disturbing.
The farms in question in this particular area are going through the permit process and located on Agricultural land. These are two core requirements of their ability to operate. There is no reason to disqualify them without just cause. Even the Planning Commissioner from
Redwood Valley disagrees with this Cannabis Prohibition District petition. And that was the main reason the Commission sent it to you with no recommendation. From reading the report, it’s clear the Planning Department, tasked with the job, could not promote it either based on the facts.
Please deny this Cannabis Prohibition District. In fact it brings to light the unjust nature of this part of the ordinance and should potentially be amended in the near future when we further refine the local regulations.
One thing it seems prudent to consider at this time is expediting the applications of the permits in question to get to clear answers on whether the operations are in compliance with County & State laws.
Planning Staff and Members of the Board of Supervisors:
Attached you will find an updated submittal package of petitions signed by those opposed to Cannabis Prohibition (CP) Zones collected on www.NoCPZones.com website -- signatures collected between June 9, 2023 and July 24, 2023. PLEASE NOTE: This has more signatures than what was uploaded to Granicus on Friday.
Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Emerald Law Group at (707) 468-8300.
The agenda item before you is to prohibit cultivation in a proposed opt out zone in Redwood Valley. While I understand our current rules allow for opt out zone proposals to come forward, we must question if this policy is equitable? Especially considering that NO NEW opt IN zones can be created. That opportunity had an expiration date which has since passed. So why is our county allowing opt out zones to come forward with no expiration dates? This is puzzling to me and honestly I wish I had realized this was our policy years ago when the zones were being created. I was so busy fighting for my town in Covelo and getting farmers permitted for opt in zoning that I somehow missed that opt out zones could be created at any time. If this proposal moves forward, the county MUST grandfather in all of the existing commercial sites that will be impacted and that have already undergone extensive permitting review and processing at both the county and state level. It would be an atrocity to see our county government shut down law abiding citizens at the 11th hour. Especially for all the time, money, stress and uncertainty they have already felt to this point trying to stay afloat as a small operator in our county. Please do not allow this opt out zone to move forward. It clearly is a step backwards in time when we should be moving as far away from prohibition mentalities as possible. The fears and concerns this neighborhood has comes from those that are illegally cultivating without the necessary permits, including clearances from State environmental agencies such as CDFW and the Waterboard.
Permitted cannabis operators are not the problem and unfortunately continue to be the target of negative narratives about cannabis cultivation. Please correct course and make serious amendments to the structuring of opt out/opt in zones while also putting in safe guards and protections for those that have charted the path towards licensing.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this public comment.
I oppose the proposed Prohibition zoning for Redwood Valley or anywhere. There are already enough restrictions for cultivation in place in the county and the state/county regulations provide more safeguards than any product's production one can think of. Allowing this Prohibition will lead to more areas pursuing this idea putting neighborhoods at odds with each other. The referendum against Phase 3 has set economical development back years for Mendocino County, please do not allow further hindrances toward economical development.
Thank you,
July 25, 2023
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
501 Low Gap Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Re: Agenda Item 4i Cannabis Prohibition Zone
My name is Jude Thilman and I’m the owner of Dragonfly Wellness Center on the Coast. Dragonfly has an 11 year history of providing patients the highest quality cannabis medicines that, we believe, can only come from source materials that are pure, without the taint of chemical growth stimulators or pesticides. We shape our business model around supporting local operators that provide the pure and potent medicines that are best found in small batch, craft flower. The quality of these crops is world-renown, and cannot be replicated with massive, Santa Barbara-style grows in a mega-sized hoop house.
Legalization of cannabis in California was enacted out of recognition that a full-blown, ilicit cannabis industry already existed for years, providing unregulated cannabis to states across the country; and using cultivation methods that often, not always, held little regard for water use or other environmental considerations; and operated without regard for neighbor or community concerns for garden placement, its visibility or accessibility to criminal elements.
Launching cannabis prohibition zones would be a big step backwards from legalization’s strict regulation of cannabis cultivation. And it would run counter to the democratic majority votes in favor of legalizing and regulating cannabis. Need we be reminded that the Mendocino County vote in favor of Prop 64 was 54.27% yes and 45.73% no and Redwood Valley was roughly 60% yes to 40% no.
This is 2023. Many of you have been on site visits to our less than 10,000 sf cultivations and you’ve seen by now that protests against cannabis are making much ado about nothing. These are beautifully cared for, extremely regulated operations. We are all now charged with the honorable responsibility of protecting and supporting our relatively few small farms struggling to survive in this “bigger is better” statewide marketplace.
The very small minority of voices in Redwood Valley trying to reverse legalization and regulation of cannabis are out of step with the times. That train has left the station. Vote no on establishing cannabis prohibition zones.
Thank you.
Jude Thilman, president
Mendocino Cannabis Alliance
I strongly oppose the proposed CP Zone. I am a local Realtor and I believe that any CP Zone put in place will negatively impact property values in Redwood Valley. Limitations for operations placed on properties create a decrease in property value, and the proposed action item should be denied. Please consider my letter in opposition attached hereto. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Planning Staff and Honorable Members of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors:
Please see the following attachments from opponents of the proposed Cannabis Prohibition (CP) Zone in Redwood Valley (Agenda Item 4i -- July 25, 2023 meeting):
1) PowerPoint presentation from opponents of the proposed CP Zone -- please allow for display at the appropriate time at Tuesday's meeting.
2) Petitions from those opposed to proposed CP Zone collected on www.NoCPZones.com website -- signatures collected between June 9, 2023 and July 21, 2023.
Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Emerald Law Group at (707) 468-8300.
Please see attached letters from Juan Gamino, property owner of 1750/1900 Rd. D; Ruben Ruiz, permit holder at 1750/1900 Rd. D; and letter from Emerald Law Group to the Board of Supervisors strongly opposing the CP Zone.
I’m a resident within the proposed zone that strongly supports moving forward with this cannabis prohibition.
My wife and I have 60 acres in the heart of this situation, our home and our vineyards are right in the middle of this zone. We were here before this activity started crowding our area.
Together my wife and I built our business with our blood, sweat,. and tears. We did it on our own, with no inherited wealth, and by doing everything by the book.
In the 20 plus years we have been here, we have worked together with our neighbors to find solutions to our issues. Collaboration and compromise have made Redwood Valley what it is today, and examples of that were shared with the Planning Commission. We attempted to maintain this level of cooperation and courtesy with the people that moved into our area and that same attitude was not returned to us.
Our lives are impacted by the cannabis operations surrounding our homes. As is common courtesy on our road, we check in with our neighbors before doing certain things to make sure it will not greatly impact or harm them. When we approached these cannabis grows and politely asked them to consider our opinions, such as placing greenhouses further back on the property to help keep the smell as far away from us as possible, we were met with no compromise. I have even gone as far to offer free service and help, like grading sections of others property, to make this agreeable but there has been no effort to work with us.
The cannabis grows plague our community with stench year round, stacks of hoop houses block our once scenic view, and they disrupt our fragile water systems.
The bottom line is that we are not okay with what is happening in our piece of Redwood Valley, and we are taking action in the process the Board has afforded constituents. We want to keep our homes and community as a place for the next generation, a place for my granddaughter. I ask that you listen to the community and the overwhelming support for this effort.
Honorable Supervisors,
I strongly oppose the the proposed prohibition zoning of cannabis cultivation in Redwood Valley. The current county and state regulations on cannabis farmers is the most tightly regulated of any type of agriculture in the state. The voices supporting this are few and threaten small legacy farms not only in this district, but throughout the county. The emerging small scale craft cannabis sector is one of the most promising economic drivers moving forward for our county. As a resident in the county for 30 years, a small business owner, and one of the 34 members of the state’s Entrepreneurship & Economic Mobility Task Force (EEMTF) with CalOSBA under the governor’s office, we need to open opportunities for economic growth in our county, not shut them down. Isolating and prohibiting cannabis cultivation over other agricultural crops is prejudicial and continues to stigmatize part of our state and county’s cultural heritage. I ask you to not support the further restrictions that a very few want to put on our local economy.
Respectfully,
Jim Roberts
The Bohemian Chemist
The Madrones & The Brambles
Sugar Hill Farm, LLC
Honorable Supervisors-
I am submitting the letter below that was submitted by to the Planning Commission earlier this year.
I object to the Prohibition District and support the MCA memo and the memos submitted by Emerald Law Group.
I am a resident of Redwood Valley, outside of the proposed prohibition zone. My husband and I are both second generation cannabis farmers. We are in process on three permits in Mendocino County and three licenses at the state level. We have struggled to maintain our business since 2105 when the regulatory process started for cannabis farmers in California. We have spent every last dollar to get and stay regulated, that is not an easy or cheap task.
We hope you consider the people who want to cultivate legally are the people contributing to our local economy and community, we want to keep people in business, keep families in Mendocino County and support our local economy.
The prohibition district aims to shut down multiple existing operators in the process of creating further exclusion with
underlying prohibitionist thinking. This is NOT a way to remove illegal grow operations, this only further divides and harms our community.
Please reconsider and work to keep people in business.
Thank you for your time- Chiah Rodriques
7-24- 2023
Dear Honorable Supervisors,
Watching the Planning Commission meeting on this issue was painful. There were many negative comments that seemed to come from extreme prejudice. The “cannabis is okay but not in my backyard” crowd was disheartening in an agricultural community. But the neighbors with racial overtones were even more disturbing.
The farms in question in this particular area are going through the permit process and located on Agricultural land. These are two core requirements of their ability to operate. There is no reason to disqualify them without just cause. Even the Planning Commissioner from
Redwood Valley disagrees with this Cannabis Prohibition District petition. And that was the main reason the Commission sent it to you with no recommendation. From reading the report, it’s clear the Planning Department, tasked with the job, could not promote it either based on the facts.
Please deny this Cannabis Prohibition District. In fact it brings to light the unjust nature of this part of the ordinance and should potentially be amended in the near future when we further refine the local regulations.
One thing it seems prudent to consider at this time is expediting the applications of the permits in question to get to clear answers on whether the operations are in compliance with County & State laws.
Thank you, Laura & Marty Clein
Planning Staff and Members of the Board of Supervisors:
Attached you will find an updated submittal package of petitions signed by those opposed to Cannabis Prohibition (CP) Zones collected on www.NoCPZones.com website -- signatures collected between June 9, 2023 and July 24, 2023. PLEASE NOTE: This has more signatures than what was uploaded to Granicus on Friday.
Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Emerald Law Group at (707) 468-8300.
Dear Honorable Supervisors,
The agenda item before you is to prohibit cultivation in a proposed opt out zone in Redwood Valley. While I understand our current rules allow for opt out zone proposals to come forward, we must question if this policy is equitable? Especially considering that NO NEW opt IN zones can be created. That opportunity had an expiration date which has since passed. So why is our county allowing opt out zones to come forward with no expiration dates? This is puzzling to me and honestly I wish I had realized this was our policy years ago when the zones were being created. I was so busy fighting for my town in Covelo and getting farmers permitted for opt in zoning that I somehow missed that opt out zones could be created at any time. If this proposal moves forward, the county MUST grandfather in all of the existing commercial sites that will be impacted and that have already undergone extensive permitting review and processing at both the county and state level. It would be an atrocity to see our county government shut down law abiding citizens at the 11th hour. Especially for all the time, money, stress and uncertainty they have already felt to this point trying to stay afloat as a small operator in our county. Please do not allow this opt out zone to move forward. It clearly is a step backwards in time when we should be moving as far away from prohibition mentalities as possible. The fears and concerns this neighborhood has comes from those that are illegally cultivating without the necessary permits, including clearances from State environmental agencies such as CDFW and the Waterboard.
Permitted cannabis operators are not the problem and unfortunately continue to be the target of negative narratives about cannabis cultivation. Please correct course and make serious amendments to the structuring of opt out/opt in zones while also putting in safe guards and protections for those that have charted the path towards licensing.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this public comment.
Sincerely,
Monique Ramirez
District 3
I oppose the proposed Prohibition zoning for Redwood Valley or anywhere. There are already enough restrictions for cultivation in place in the county and the state/county regulations provide more safeguards than any product's production one can think of. Allowing this Prohibition will lead to more areas pursuing this idea putting neighborhoods at odds with each other. The referendum against Phase 3 has set economical development back years for Mendocino County, please do not allow further hindrances toward economical development.
Thank you,
Steve Amato
Honorable Supervisors,
Please see attachment for opposing letters from members of our community.
July 25, 2023
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
501 Low Gap Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Re: Agenda Item 4i Cannabis Prohibition Zone
My name is Jude Thilman and I’m the owner of Dragonfly Wellness Center on the Coast. Dragonfly has an 11 year history of providing patients the highest quality cannabis medicines that, we believe, can only come from source materials that are pure, without the taint of chemical growth stimulators or pesticides. We shape our business model around supporting local operators that provide the pure and potent medicines that are best found in small batch, craft flower. The quality of these crops is world-renown, and cannot be replicated with massive, Santa Barbara-style grows in a mega-sized hoop house.
Legalization of cannabis in California was enacted out of recognition that a full-blown, ilicit cannabis industry already existed for years, providing unregulated cannabis to states across the country; and using cultivation methods that often, not always, held little regard for water use or other environmental considerations; and operated without regard for neighbor or community concerns for garden placement, its visibility or accessibility to criminal elements.
Launching cannabis prohibition zones would be a big step backwards from legalization’s strict regulation of cannabis cultivation. And it would run counter to the democratic majority votes in favor of legalizing and regulating cannabis. Need we be reminded that the Mendocino County vote in favor of Prop 64 was 54.27% yes and 45.73% no and Redwood Valley was roughly 60% yes to 40% no.
This is 2023. Many of you have been on site visits to our less than 10,000 sf cultivations and you’ve seen by now that protests against cannabis are making much ado about nothing. These are beautifully cared for, extremely regulated operations. We are all now charged with the honorable responsibility of protecting and supporting our relatively few small farms struggling to survive in this “bigger is better” statewide marketplace.
The very small minority of voices in Redwood Valley trying to reverse legalization and regulation of cannabis are out of step with the times. That train has left the station. Vote no on establishing cannabis prohibition zones.
Thank you.
Jude Thilman, president
Mendocino Cannabis Alliance
I strongly oppose the proposed CP Zone. I am a local Realtor and I believe that any CP Zone put in place will negatively impact property values in Redwood Valley. Limitations for operations placed on properties create a decrease in property value, and the proposed action item should be denied. Please consider my letter in opposition attached hereto. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Planning Staff and Honorable Members of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors:
Please see the following attachments from opponents of the proposed Cannabis Prohibition (CP) Zone in Redwood Valley (Agenda Item 4i -- July 25, 2023 meeting):
1) PowerPoint presentation from opponents of the proposed CP Zone -- please allow for display at the appropriate time at Tuesday's meeting.
2) Petitions from those opposed to proposed CP Zone collected on www.NoCPZones.com website -- signatures collected between June 9, 2023 and July 21, 2023.
Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Emerald Law Group at (707) 468-8300.
Please see attached letters from Juan Gamino, property owner of 1750/1900 Rd. D; Ruben Ruiz, permit holder at 1750/1900 Rd. D; and letter from Emerald Law Group to the Board of Supervisors strongly opposing the CP Zone.
Julisa Gonzalez from Emerald Law Group. Please see attachment with letter from Anarbol Lopez.
I’m a resident within the proposed zone that strongly supports moving forward with this cannabis prohibition.
My wife and I have 60 acres in the heart of this situation, our home and our vineyards are right in the middle of this zone. We were here before this activity started crowding our area.
Together my wife and I built our business with our blood, sweat,. and tears. We did it on our own, with no inherited wealth, and by doing everything by the book.
In the 20 plus years we have been here, we have worked together with our neighbors to find solutions to our issues. Collaboration and compromise have made Redwood Valley what it is today, and examples of that were shared with the Planning Commission. We attempted to maintain this level of cooperation and courtesy with the people that moved into our area and that same attitude was not returned to us.
Our lives are impacted by the cannabis operations surrounding our homes. As is common courtesy on our road, we check in with our neighbors before doing certain things to make sure it will not greatly impact or harm them. When we approached these cannabis grows and politely asked them to consider our opinions, such as placing greenhouses further back on the property to help keep the smell as far away from us as possible, we were met with no compromise. I have even gone as far to offer free service and help, like grading sections of others property, to make this agreeable but there has been no effort to work with us.
The cannabis grows plague our community with stench year round, stacks of hoop houses block our once scenic view, and they disrupt our fragile water systems.
The bottom line is that we are not okay with what is happening in our piece of Redwood Valley, and we are taking action in the process the Board has afforded constituents. We want to keep our homes and community as a place for the next generation, a place for my granddaughter. I ask that you listen to the community and the overwhelming support for this effort.
Honorable Supervisors,
Please see the attached memo from MCA in strong opposition to the proposed Prohibition District.
We urge you to reject not only this district, but to take steps to remove this component from the ordinance altogether.
Sincerely,
Mendocino Cannabis Alliance
e: info@mendocannabis.com