News&Comment

Is Commercial Marijuana Really Sustainable in Sonoma County?

Promoters of marijuana cultivation such as Cannacraft and SPARC assert this should become a “marquee industry” in Sonoma County that will generate wealth and create new jobs, yet somehow not exacerbate the housing shortages. This argument merits close examination. Land and labor are expensive in Sonoma County compared to many locations where marijuana can be…
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Cannabis has a carbon problem

The burgeoning marijuana industry gobbles up electricity High Country NewsJonathan Thompson May 31, 2021 From the print edition Location, location, location: That’s the deciding factor when it comes to the size of marijuana cultivation’s carbon footprint, according to a new study out of Colorado State University. The paper’s authors, led by Hailey Summers, confirmed previous findings that…
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From the field: Masked in Sebastopol, and not because of Covid

To The Board of Supervisors, Do you know what it’s like to live near a cannabis farm? Unfortunately for us, my family and our neighbors do. There is a medium-size operation with approximately 80 in-ground plants (less than an acre). The smell coming from this operation was overwhelming and constant. We live down-wind from that…
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In case you were wondering what Supervisor Gore’s sister in law thought about the cannabis ordinance…

No, he didn’t recuse himself 3/13/21Erin GoreOld River Road Inc dba Garden SocietyC12-0000062-LIC 840 N Cloverdale Blvd,Cloverdale, CA 95425 Dear Planning Commissioners, Thank you for the opportunity to have an open discussion with you all about the recently proposed regulations from the County of Sonoma with regards to their proposed changes for cannabis cultivation across…
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Commentary: Sonoma County supervisors correct to require environmental review for cannabis cultivation

May 19, 2021 The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors should be applauded for doing the right thing this week and ordering a full Environmental Impact Report before taking the next steps in considering cannabis cultivation in Sonoma County. The Supervisors overcame heavy lobbying and pressure from the corporate cannabis industry that wanted to open the…
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From the field: Enforcement where are you?

To Whom It May Concern, In 2018, my family along with my three neighbors whom all reside on Herrerias Way in Petaluma, Ca was negatively impacted due to a large marijuana grow operation that was set up without our permission less than ½ a mile from our homes, near an Elementary School and across the…
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Rural neighborhoods win a stay and environmental review of proposed cannabis expansion

May 18th 2021 Board of Supervisors Meeting The long and tortured road of our local ordinances governing land use policy and marijuana. After five years of unending conflicts between long time rural residents and hopeful marijuana speculators, our Supervisors finally hit the wall of reality. They must conduct an EIR per State law and CEQA…
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Board of Supervisors Meeting May 18th

The proposed changes to the cannabis permitting process will be some of the most significant land use changes in Sonoma County in the last 40 years. Tuesday, May 18th is our best and last chance to influence the Board of Supervisors before they vote on the draft cannabis ordinance.  Below are directions on how to…
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Demonstration against cannabis proposals draws large crowd, TV and press coverage

May 17th demonstration against expansion of commercial marijuana production in Sonoma County rural neighborhoods.

From the field: Life on “Marijuana Creek Lane”

Dear Sonoma County Supervisors, Since early 2017, my neighbors and I have the had the unfortunate luck of living on Matanzas Creek Lane, or, as your staff jokingly refers to it as, ‘Marijuana Creek Lane’. We are continually reminded of Sonoma County’s poorly written, implemented, and enforced cannabis ordinance and its continued willingness to put…
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