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HUMBOLDT COUNTY SUPERVISORS PURSUE CANNABIS CAP, ACREAGE LIMIT

 * Jackson Guilfoil
 * November 7, 2023 at 2:58 p.m.
 * Categories: Latest Headlines, Local News, Marijuana, News

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On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors pursued a ballot measure
that would set new limits on cannabis cultivation. (The Times-Standard file)

On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors asked staff to craft a
ballot measure put to voters that would place new limits on how big cannabis
farms can get and place a new cap on the number of cultivation permits issued by
the planning and building department.

However, the supervisors — who voted unanimously, with 1st District Supervisor
Rex Bohn absent, to ask staff to draft the measure — wanted modifications,
including requiring a four-fifths vote to change it and a definition of parcels.
During discussions, not all of the board members agreed with all prongs of the
proposed measure and the approval was hardly enthusiastic.

“I understand the logic behind it (the measure) and how it might assuage some of
the concerns, but I am just not feeling like the ballot language is clear enough
for me to feel really confident,” 4th District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said.



The measure, if passed to the voters, would cap the total number of permits at
1,400, down from the 3,500 permits now allowed. Currently, there are 1,113
active permits and 465 open applications for permits. Cultivation would be
limited to one acre, maximum. The measure would not be retroactive, meaning that
it would not “be assigned to existing permit holders,” said Humboldt County
Planning and Building Department Director John Ford.

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, whose district in Southern
Humboldt County encompasses the local historic hub for the cannabis industry,
said she disliked the cap number at 1,400, but she agreed with a provision that,
if 10% of the permits and applications do not go forward, could eventually
reduce the cap by 60%.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone agreed, arguing that the caps are
“problematic” because they can concentrate a significant chunk of cannabis
cultivation within one area.




The board, if they ultimately decide to put the measure on the ballot, has
little time to do it. A Dec. 5 decision is required to make the county election
office’s Dec. 8 deadline for measures on the March 2024 ballot.

“It’s just kind of a mixed thing for me, I have to be very honest, I’m very,
very stuck between these two possible outcomes,” Madrone said. “The intent was
not to create a nonconforming, but even with a ballot measure being recommended,
option E, I believe it is over one acre would be nonconforming. Correct? I mean,
there’s only like 12 farms that are over an acre, but they would be
nonconforming in that the new acreage cap is one acre.”



If placed on the ballot, the measure would be alongside Measure A, an initiative
that would place several new restrictions on cannabis cultivation which
advocates argue ensure environmental protections and defend the county from
onerously large grows. Cannabis industry affiliates argue the measure would
devastate local growers.

Mark Thurmond, one of Measure A’s proponents, said that the referendum is
“essentially a Hail Mary” to defeat Measure A sponsored by the cannabis
industry.

“I think it’s an underhanded attempt to deceive the voters and influence an
election at the request of the cannabis industry and it really reveals a
profound disrespect for voters in assuming they would fall for such a
deception,” Thurmond said.

Natalynne DeLapp, executive director for the Humboldt County Growers Alliance, a
cannabis industry trade group, said her organization supports the measure
pursued by the supervisors.

“I just really think that voters should have a choice between Measure A and
Measure B and we let the best measure win,” DeLapp said.

The HCGA is currently suing the county to try and get Measure A off the ballot,
accusing Measure A’s proponents of intentionally falsely advertising the
measure’s consequences when collecting signatures for it.

“I think we’ve managed to make everybody in the audience angry, but it will give
us some food for discussion next time,” Arroyo said.

Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.


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