Buellton Asks County to Regulate Cannabis in Santa Ynez Valley
Illegal cannabis farm on Cebada Canyon Road (Photo: SBSO)
By edhat staff
The City of Buellton passed a resolution on Thursday requesting the Board of Supervisors to take action to regulate commercial cannabis cultivation in the Santa Ynez Valley.
The resolution stated Buellton representatives have previously expressed deep concerns regarding the "potential impacts and unintended consequences of permitting commercial cannabis cultivation in the Santa Ynez Valley, particularly in close proximity to the City's jurisdictional boundaries, including noxious odors, commercial traffic, water, lighting, public safety, incompatibility of uses, crime, and the potential for other serious public health, safety and welfare issues."
The City of Buellton stated the current commercial cannabis regulatory program is inadequate to prevent proliferation and overconcentration of commercial cannabis cultivation operations in the County and particularly in the Santa Ynez Valley.
It was cited that the cities of Carpinteria, Goleta, and Solvang had adopted similar resolutions expressing concerns of a detrimental impact on tourism and economic activity for some businesses, and potentially threatening the long-term viability of other established open-field agricultural crops.
The City Council stated they are committed to working with the County Board of Supervisors to help craft amendments to the County's cannabis regulations to address the aforementioned unintended consequences.
The full resolution can be found here.
17 Comments
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Dec 16, 2019 09:53 AMDBD, you say "If you research online(there is a ton of info), Santa Barbara County has set a cap of 1,575 total acres of cannabis that can be cultivated, out of 107,516 total acres of SB county Ag land. Of that 1575, only 140 acres has made it through the LUP process(info available on county's website). " You are of course omitting all of the current operations that are present without going through the permitting process because Das let them lie on their applications without verification that their ops were pre-existing. But obscuring the facts seems to be a favorite tactic of everyone these days.
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Dec 15, 2019 07:36 AMLet the dummies that voted for legalization pay huge taxes for a plant they can legally grow on their own now.
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Dec 15, 2019 07:19 AMThe real blights on the valley are the one-acre "ranch" parcels, followed closely by the "city" of Buellton.
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Dec 14, 2019 10:03 PMWe drove from LA to SB last Wednesday night. Highway 101 construction caused us to detour via Carpinteria Ave. The entire length of Carp Ave right through the commercial and residential areas smelled like weed, not just a faint odor, but a good hefty stench, a vast and malodorous cloud. How exactly is this good for the community? If the county of SB needs money that badly why not build a big tire factory or a pulp mill?
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Dec 16, 2019 09:59 AM101 through Carp this weekend- huge, lingering pot stench, stayed in the car for miles afterwards.
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Dec 16, 2019 09:49 AMYou must be hallucinating. The pro-cannabis people, ie the people working in the industry and making millions, swear that there is no odor problem in Carpinteria. Das will back them up also.
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Dec 13, 2019 04:13 PMMeanwhile the alcohol and gambling lobby grins in the shadows
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Dec 13, 2019 01:44 PMYou go Buellton; protect your population and your surroundings. Don't let your valley be taken over like Carpinteria's has
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Dec 13, 2019 12:55 PMPot is having a terrible affect on the North County- Rual roads like Santa Rosa Rd now have heavy traffic due to all the labor workers, the thousands of acres of Corporate Pot Fields are totally stinking up the environment.... This entire pot industry is a nightmare. Now Foxen Canyon is getting a Corporate pot farm as well, between Rancho Sisquoc Winery and Foxen Canyon- Sad.
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Dec 14, 2019 10:53 PMI remember similar "wars" over grape vines and wineries. The industry should be given a period of time to settle in. I do have sympathy for those affected by odor. I think the Carpinteria situation was well-handled by odor control systems. This will settle out, I predict, and residents all over will be happy for tax fund monies.
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Dec 14, 2019 12:38 PMTo LINA24: I've noticed the smell when I drive through Carp. It would really influence my life in a negative way were Buellton begin to smell that way. It's where I've lived a simple uncomplicated life for over 30 years, but having a noxious smell would make me want to move away. I remember the smell of sugar beets in parts of Santa Maria; it was very annoying. I am pro-cannabis in every way, although I don't smoke or ingest it myself, but the unexpected consequence of a strong odor would really be unfortunate, I think, for all of us.
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Dec 14, 2019 10:53 AMRe: my previous comment - I'm referring to the Sisquoc, Orcutt, Santa Maria North County area - not Buellton. I live in Buellton and can't smell any weed or other noxious veggies... Maybe I'm nose blind to it myself, but I do smell it passing through Carp, so maybe not.
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Dec 14, 2019 10:38 AMI used to work in the North County and could barely breathe when broccoli or whatever vegetable smells like rotting sulfur permeated the air half the time. I'm surprised people living there are complaining about weed. I thought they were all nose blind like my boss and other coworkers who lived there were.
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Dec 13, 2019 01:48 PMAny crop that is grown will have traffic from labor workers, this is not exclusive to cannabis. 'Thousands of acres of Corporate Pot Fields' is a total fabrication, i believe you need at least two of something to pluralize a word. If you research online(there is a ton of info), Santa Barbara County has set a cap of 1,575 total acres of cannabis that can be cultivated, out of 107,516 total acres of SB county Ag land. Of that 1575, only 140 acres has made it through the LUP process(info available on county's website). If this is your idea of a 'nightmare' i'd love to trade lives with you, lol.
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Dec 13, 2019 01:44 PMYou can thank Das Williams and Gregg Hart for this. What a cluster.
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Dec 13, 2019 12:53 PMI think between the casino, thousands of acres of grapes and livestock the valley feels it's maxed out??? But lets blame it on the new guys in town, lol.
"including noxious odors, commercial traffic, water, lighting, public safety, incompatibility of uses, crime, and the potential for other serious public health, safety and welfare issues"
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Dec 13, 2019 07:58 PMDBD, you can't be serious...? Are you saying there are no "noxious odors" associated with outdoor pot grows...???
You are obviously a grower/proponent who has a monitary stake in the pot business, after all, it's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY...