Articles From : Melinda Burns

  • Outdoor cannabis

    County Projects a $10.5 Million Shortfall in Cannabis Tax Revenue

    Carryover funds from previous years will take up the slack, officials say

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  • Valley Crest Farms, center left, and Ceres Farms, center right, are owned by Case and Alex Van Wingerden. The Cate School campus is at the far right. Photo by Melinda Burns.

    The Slow Road to Fresh Air in the Carpinteria Valley

    Ceres Farms gets two years to install filters that can “scrub” the smell of pot from cannabis greenhouses.

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  • Get a Whiff of This

    Get a Whiff of This

    How some Carpinterians learned to sniff pot for science

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  • The cannabis industry has taken root during the past four years in the Carpinteria Valley, as cut flower greenhouses converted to pot. The “grows” are most heavily concentrated at the western end of the valley, shown here. (Courtesy photo)

    Carpinteria Pot Wars: A Dutch Clean-Air Technology Gives Residents Some Hope

    Expensive carbon filters can “scrub” the stink of greenhouse cannabis, but how many growers will install them?

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  • This vineyard property at 705 Mail Road west of Buellton, owned by William Hines of Montecito, was part of an alleged unlicensed cannabis operation called Santa Barbara Greenland Deliveries, authorities say. (Courtesy photo)

    Prosecutors Move Against Five Cannabis Operators

    Felony charges include alleged perjury, conspiracy to commit crimes

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  • This cannabis greenhouse at 5980 Casitas Pass Road uses an odor-control system that sets up a curtain of mist to neutralize the smell of pot. Many residents have complained that the mist smells like laundromats. (Photo taken from an application to the county.)

    Carpinteria Valley Cannabis Approaches a Milestone

    The acreage cap will soon be filled, but odor control lags far behind.

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  • The

    County Supervisors Hit Pause on Cannabis Tax Reform

    “Self-reporting” by growers has led to lost tax revenues, board says, but it will take time to come up with a fairer system.

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  • The county Board of Supervisors has signalled it will tighten restrictions for future outdoor cannabis operations in the North County by requiring conditional use permits for all projects, starting in late September. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    Stricter Permits Are Coming for North County Cannabis

    Future “grows” will have to be “compatible” with the neighborhood, county supervisors say.

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  • The debris flow of Jan. 9, 2018 killed 23 people and damaged or destroyed 500 structures in Montecito. According to a new study based on the historical record, it was one of five massive debris flows or debris-laden floods that permanently altered the topography of the community in the past 200 years. Photo by Mike Eliason, Santa Barbara County Fire.

    The 1/9 Debris Flow Was Not So Rare

    Montecito has been hit by four other debris-charged events during the past 200 years — and they were worse, researchers say.

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  • Dayspring abandoned large areas of hoop-house cultivation on his private properties in the Los Padres, leaving a hard-packed surface that could create significant erosion during rains. (2019 photo by Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board)

    Dayspring Associate Drops North County Cannabis Application

    “About as good news as we can expect,” Tepusquet Canyon residents say.

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  • The Montecito Sanitary District is located at 1042 Monte Cristo Lane. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    Making a Stink at Montecito Sanitary

    Dissident board member quits, saying, “I believe this board will never change its ways.”

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  • Historically, the Montecito Water District has rejected the idea of delivering non-potable recycled water for irrigation to its largest customers. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    Montecito Water Part 2: Recycling Revisited

    Affluent enclave explores shipping its sewage to Santa Barbara or the Carpinteria Valley.

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  • The Montecito Water District on San Ysidro Road and the Montecito Sanitary District on Monte Cristo Lane are looking into the pros and cons of forming a single district. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    Montecito Water Part 1: Is a Merger in the Works?

    The push to combine water and sewage districts is “a solution without a problem,” critics say.

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  • The state Coastal Commission this week declined to review the county's approval of a zoning permit for Cresco California, eight acres of cannabis in greenhouses and a 25,000 square-foot processing building at 3861 Foothill Road in the Carpinteria Valley, next to Arroyo Paredon. The creek appears as a dark line of trees running leftward from the top of the photo.

    Cresco Cannabis Appeal Fizzles at Coastal Commission

    Carpinteria Valley greenhouse project will not harm Arroyo Paredon Creek, state officials say.

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  • County Projects $6 Million Cannabis Revenue Shortfall for 2021-22

    County Projects $6 Million Cannabis Revenue Shortfall for 2021-22

    The county’s tax revenue from cannabis cultivation is projected to be only $12.4 million this fiscal year, or $6 million less than the $18.4 million that was forecast last June.

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  • Graham Farrar, the president of Glass House Farms, won county Board of Supervisors approval this week for a 25,000 square-foot state-of-the-art processing building at his cannabis greenhouse operation at 3561 Foothill Road. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    County Opens the Door to More Cannabis Processing

    But stiffer odor control regulations are coming in the North County, supervisors say.

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  • Graham Farrar is proposing to construct a 25,000 square-foot processing building at his cannabis greenhouse operation at Glass House Farms, also known as G & K Farms, at 3561 Foothill Road in the Carpinteria Valley. Farrar's greenhouses have been a focus of odor complaints from residents in recent years. (Photo by Melinda Burns)

    Sidestepping the Cannabis Caps

    New rules would promote local processing and boost tax revenues, county supervisors say.

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  • A 24-acre cannabis operation at 5645 Santa Rosa Road west of Buellton was approved 3-1 by the county Board of Supervisors this week. (Photo by Central Coast Agriculture)

    County Approves Second Cannabis “Grow” for Central Coast Agriculture

    Supervisors brush aside coalition’s concerns about water supply, air pollution

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  • More than 100 state-of-the-art carbon filters, called

    Ever-Bloom Tries to Clear the Air

    Carpinteria cannabis greenhouse gets a green light for new odor-control technology, but critics vow to appeal

     

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  • Blair Pence, the owner of Pence Vineyards & Winery, is president of the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, a countywide group that advocates for stricter regulation of the industry. (Courtesy photo)

    Cannabis Project Next to Pence Vineyards is Withdrawn

    Owners cite family’s ‘competing business interests’

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