This letter is in response to your paper’s article about the lawsuit filed against the county of Santa Barbara attacking its cannabis regulations (“Battle in the valley,” April 30). We have been farming organic vegetables in Goleta for the last 10 years. As much as we have loved this line of work, it has been very challenging economically to survive and continue to operate. Our entire farm team was filled with hope and excitement for a new crop and opportunity when cannabis was legalized in 2016. We were, and still are, proud of our county supervisors and planning staff for creating such a progressive and forward-thinking land-use ordinance for cannabis farming. For the first time we felt there was an opportunity to finally obtain economic stability and have some confidence our farming operation in the Goleta foothills would stay viable for the long run.
To now see the opposition file a CEQA lawsuit against Santa Barbara County over its approval of a cannabis farm permit, using environmental laws to prohibit such an environmentally friendly crop, just doesn’t make any sense and saddens our entrepreneurial souls. We encourage the county to fight and prevail against this lawsuit so that this new opportunity we have been investing into does not disappear.
Jack Motter
Ellwood Canyon Farms, Goleta
This article appears in May 21-28, 2020.