Carpinteria City Council members passed a resolution on June 17, articulating a litany of community concerns over the widespread cultivation of cannabis in Santa Barbara County.
Commercial cannabis grows are banned in Carpinteria. But just over the border in unincorporated parts of town, large-scale grows flourish. Santa Barbara is now home to more commercial cannabis grows than any other county in the state. It will soon boast the two largest legal marijuana farms on earth.
Lax regulations at the county level are largely responsible for the explosion of commercial weed. County Supervisor Das Williams recently acknowledged that the county erred in the way it went about welcoming the industry.
Carpinteria’s resolution expresses concerns about odors, declining property values, threats to other forms of agriculture, and an overall decrease in quality of life. It also authorizes letters to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, the Coastal Commission, and the Air Pollution Control District and calls for new regulations such as a 1,000-foot buffer zone between cannabis sites and other properties. It was approved unanimously.
Read more about the resolution at CoastalView.com.
See also:
How Santa Barbara Became Ground Zero in California’s Green Rush