Nov 13 2024 Newsletter - Neighborhood Compatibility

Why Should You Be Worried?

Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors will make decisions early next year that will dramatically and negatively affect our homes and destroy the county’s rural character and identity for decades to come. While the Board previously gave lip-service to “Neighborhood Compatibility” as a priority, the current proposals jettison any consideration of that notion. Instead, they threaten both our community and the environment. This is the last chance to challenge the County’s intentions and insist it preserve our county’s rural character and make the health and safety of residents a top priority. Here are the reasons we all should be worried.

Whatever Happened to Neighborhood Compatibility?

Permit Sonoma’s proposals - Revised Draft Cannabis Land Use Ordinance, General Plan Amendment, and other documents (SoCoCloud link) Released July 9, 2024 - to protect neighborhood compatibility are truly a “disaster” and “genuinely awful.” That is the final analysis of the proposed ordinance during a presentation to a packed Townhall meeting at the Bennett Valley Grange to members of the Grange and the Bennett Valley Community Association. You can listen to the 30-minute presentation on U-Tube.
                  The oral presentation:  https://youtu.be/_w2IgBKsahw
                   The PowerPoint slides:   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PR-owk6C0Iigh3KnCsNeZWcx8ZJrRjHv/view

Repeatedly claiming "neighborhood compatibility is the top priority," Permit Sonoma’s proposals contradict this as outlined below:

• Shrinking property setbacks (closer to homes) and smaller eligible parcel sizes
• Rejecting all input regarding neighborhood enclaves and exclusion zones
• Supporting incompatible activities (up to 104 yearly events) in rural areas
• Promoting an unlimited number of dispensary consumption lounges
• Allowing retail sales at rural cultivation sites
• Removing the health and safety provision in the current ordinance
• Allowing industrial manufacturing at all permitted grow sites  
• “Grandfathering” all current permits and applications

Further negating any suggestions of neighborhood compatibility, the Revised Draft presents a radical shift in the County’s identity with its proposal for hundreds of cannabis tourist cafes and cannabis consumption events. These events would create public safety issues and hazards while diminishing Sonoma County’s primary asset – its rural character. Further adding to the risks inherent in this aspect of the proposal is the documented reality of violent crime at outdoor cultivation sites and dispensaries.Permit Sonoma’s draft violates its so-called guiding light, the notion of “ensuring neighborhood compatibility.” Instead, it fans the cannabis flames, guaranteeing neighborhood hostility and animosity without even a token effort to ensure neighborhood compatibility.

Whatever Happened to Public Input?

In good faith, neighbors and citizens have participated in countless workshops and hearings regarding the anticipated Revised Draft. The input and suggestions made in these workshops and hearings have not been random opinions. Instead, the Neighborhood Coalition has provided the County with detailed and extensive scientific data and analyses in support of its objections and recommendations to promote neighborhood compatibility. These submissions cover the breadth of concerns including noxious odors, water usage, safety, crime, property values, and environmental damage.  So what happened to Public Input? Permit Sonoma seems to have pushed the “delete” button on all of these concerns and deposited the data in the proverbial “round file.”

What About the Proposed GENERAL PLAN Amendment?

As part of its Revised Draft, the County intends to amend the General Plan, by declaring cannabis be deemed “Controlled Ag.” The County tries to justify this classification by literally wrapping itself around two very contradictory statements: “…the majority of policies related to agriculture apply equally to cannabis uses,” countered by, “Recognizing that cannabis is classified as a controlled substance, it is therefore appropriate to subject it to certain additional regulations and limitations.”

This contorted verbiage is an excellent example of cognitive dissonance, holding conflicting ideas at the same time.  Less elegantly put, this is the ultimate hypocrisy.

Making the current proposals even more mind-boggling is the fact the County’s own financial reports reveal the cannabis program has run an annual deficit (expenses higher than revenue) of nearly $1m per year for the last two years and is projected to do the same this fiscal year. In other words, the County is reaching into our non-cannabis tax dollar funds to support this failing enterprise, one which violates neighborhoods and the environment.

What Are Our Recommendations?

• A moratorium until the ordinance is revised.
• Invoke County Code § 26-88-252 and terminate existing permits for cultivations that are a serious threat to public health, safety, and welfare.  Circumstances under which these permits were granted have changed. Exposure to the carcinogen beta-myrcene is one such threat that was not considered in the initial approval of outdoor cultivation or improperly filtered indoor/greenhouse cultivation.
• Ban outdoor cultivation entirely and sunset all existing Outdoor Cultivation permits in favor of indoor and greenhouse operations in commercial zones only. This makes economic sense.
• Do not allow ministerial permits except in industrial-zoned properties

What Can You Do?

Take action - DONATE TODAY.
We need your help to rein in the County Staff and Supervisors’ ill thought-out proposals, and to preserve our county’s beauty, as well as the health, safety, and viability of our rural neighborhoods and our homes.

Our campaign to preserve what we all hold near and dear needs your support. Your tax-deductible donation will fund technical experts, research, and legal expenses that are critical to our effort to require the County protect our environment, children, and the health and safety of our neighborhoods.  New research, health studies and economic trends identify viable options. Our goal is to enlighten and persuade public decision-makers to make better choices.

The Neighborhood Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, volunteer-based, dedicated to advocating for proper cannabis and land-use policies that benefit the community. All donations support these efforts.

You can also mail a check to:
Sonoma Neighborhood Coalition
PO Box 1229
Sebastopol, CA 95473

Thank you for your support and donation.
The Neighborhood Coalition team

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