Stay updated with breaking news from West coast farms. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Santa Barbara voters hoped for an economic boost, but a coalition of schools, rich homeowners and the wine industry are no longer feeling the buzz ....
John Palminteri SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - In a sweeping decision that puts a seal of approval on the county’s embrace of the fast-growing cannabis industry in rural areas, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge this week tossed out a citizens’ lawsuit that sought to shut down a 22-acre cannabis hoop-house operation on Highway 246. Noting that “this is a very important case,” Judge Thomas Anderle ruled on Tuesday that the county’s environmental review and zoning permit for Busy Bee’s Organics, a mile west of Buellton, were fully in compliance with state laws and county land-use policies. The right time to sue, he said, was back in early 2018, when the county Board of Supervisors certified an environmental impact report and adopted ordinances governing cannabis cultivation and licensing. ....
Housing and Development Newsletter The Busy Bee’s lawsuit was the first of three filed by the coalition against the county and the owners of outdoor cannabis “grows” on Highway 246 last year, including West Coast Farms and Castlerock Family Farms, all of them in the scenic wine-tasting region between Buellton and Lompoc. Within this region, applications for nearly 800 acres of outdoor cannabis are in various stages of county review for the Sta. Rita Hills, a federally-designated American Viticultural Area. The Busy Bee’s case is believed to be the first to seek stricter regulation of outdoor cannabis cultivation based on alleged violations of the California Environmental Quality Act. Tuesday’s ruling signals the potential pitfalls of that strategy and suggests that the coalition will face an uphill battle in its future court cases. ....
By Melinda Burns | 2:49 p.m. It is the winter of discontent for many Buellton-area vintners and residents, as two more outdoor cannabis projects, one of them the largest in the county to date, have been approved for the picturesque Sta. Rita Hills wine region. How and whether the county requires odor controls on these early projects – SFS Farms OpCo 1 at the western end of the Sta. Rita Hills and Central Coast Agriculture at the eastern end near Buellton – will set a precedent for nearly 800 acres of outdoor grows that are proposed for the region and in various stages of county review, critics say. ....
Bitter Feud in Wine Country: Will the county rein in the skunky smell from outdoor pot farms? Central Coast Agriculture, a 32-acre project for cannabis cultivation under hoops at 8701 Santa Rosa Rd., was approved in January by the county Planning Commission. The project includes stricter requirements for odor control than other outdoor cannabis projects, but a citizens’ coalition says they do not go far enough. (Photo by Melinda Burns) It is a winter of discontent for many Buellton-area vintners and residents, as two more outdoor cannabis operations, one of them slated to be the county’s largest, were approved for the picturesque Sta. Rita Hills wine region. ....