Sometimes when you tune in to the right Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, you get more than you bargained for.
And often, that’s in hours—people droning on about zoning and regulations that support their opposition to their neighbor installing a patio.
“The very thought of them enjoying their backyard conjures up noise, noise, noise!”
But occasionally, you get a little Planning Commission treat for persevering. Which is exactly what happened on Aug. 5 after the laborious arguments over whether TerraCore’s Foxen Pipeline Petroleum Project permit should get approved for an extension.
Activists wanted the project’s environmental impact report (which county supervisors already approved in 2018) to include a proposed oil well drilling project that TerraCore is also working on. Meanwhile TerraCore insists that the projects are separate—that the pipeline doesn’t depend on the drilling project.
The arguments for that went like this:
“We should definitely get approved, because we’re being as environmentally conscious as possible,” the oil company and its proponents said. “Plus jobs and the economy.”
“They are destroying the world with carbon emissions and have to be stopped,” opponents said. “They only care about their bottom line.”
There, now you never have to listen to another oil project hearing ever again. Because that’s what they all sound like.
So after that long-winded hearing—which ended with the Planning Commission approving the extension and activists low-key threatening California Environmental Quality Act type appeals—a bunch of people who live down near Solvang argued over the merits of having a greenhouse in the neighborhood.
But it’s not just any greenhouse. When project applicant Steve Decker first applied to build his greenhouse, it was going to grow cannabis. After the county changed its cannabis ordinance, Decker supposedly withdrew his application because it was no longer an allowable use for the area.
Don’t worry, though, Mr. Decker was undeterred. He simply reapplied, but replaced the word “cannabis” with the word “vegetable.”
Voila! He received county approval.
Not so fast, his neighbors cried! And they appealed the approval, which is our little Planning Commission treat this month!
Neighbor Stephen Jacobs argued against the approval, accusing Decker of trying to pull a fast one on the county. And yeah, it sort of sounds like Decker is trying to do something he shouldn’t.
However, Decker swore that he didn’t want to have anything to do with cannabis anymore.
“I have no intention of being in the cannabis business. Quite frankly, the cannabis business is in serious trouble financially, so I’m not interested in getting into cannabis at all,” he said.
Funny thing, though, that’s not what his LinkedIn profile alludes to.
“If you go on Mr. Decker’s LinkedIn, you’ll see that it mentions right at the top that he is the CEO of Santa Barbara Cannabis,” Jacobs argued to the Planning Commission.
Maybe Decker should change the name of his business to Santa Barbara Vegetable? Either way, I think both the county and the neighbors are going to keep their ogling eyes on that greenhouse.
The canary is switching to a flamingo. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 13-20, 2020.