Anyone living near a cannabis operation is familiar with the horrendous stink that lingers in the air 24 hours a day for months at a time. Some of these operations are close to Lompoc, and being someone who lives in the odor path, I can tell you that these operations have a serious impact on my family’s quality of life.
We cannot open windows to take advantage of natural ventilation or exercise outdoors during the day. The odors find their way into our home even when the windows and doors are tightly closed. There are increased utility costs associated with operating in-home air filtering and ventilation systems to improve indoor air quality. And it’s hard to sleep when odors creep into our home.
The permitting authorities seemingly don’t care about this issue; however, there are some exceptions.
Repeated odor complaints are ignored.
As reported in the Santa Barbara Independent in mid-May of this year, back in 2021 one such growing operation in the South County was sued by the county of Santa Barbara for creating a “continuing public nuisance” after they received numerous complaints from people who were adversely impacted by the skunk-like odors.”
The operation “constitutes a continuing public nuisance” and has committed “acts of unfair competition,” the county alleged according to the article. By failing to comply with “regulatory safety measures,” it said, Island Breeze and Island View Ranch were profiting “to the detriment of lawful cannabis businesses operating in the county.”
But that didn’t stop the stink.
“As recently as March 3, the following anonymous odor complaint was filed with the county with reference to 3376 Foothill: ‘Woke up in my bedroom this morning to the stench of pot, and my right nostril clogged. Every door and window closed in the house. It comes down our shower vents and chimney! After several minutes, I had a headache. This has got to stop,’” according to the article.
The permitting authority for cannabis grows is Santa Barbara County beginning with the Planning Commission, and even though the county had sued the applicant, the Planning Commission approved their permit. Citizens can appeal decisions of the Planning Commission, however, as the article reports: “The county usually approves cannabis permits on appeal. In drafting their cannabis ordinance of 2018, the supervisors sought to ‘develop a robust and economically viable legal cannabis industry,’ overriding ‘significant and unavoidable’ impacts from ‘objectionable odors.’”
In other words, they really don’t care about the voters they serve, only the all-powerful cannabis lobby that seems to have taken over the county. And of course, there was the anticipated revenue stream that they thought they could get when voters approved Prop. 64, which legalized cannabis a few years ago.
The lone exception is 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann. She knows firsthand how these operations impact folks living nearby. Her home is in the odor path of a pot plantation, and when coming to her offices in Lompoc she passes by another smelly grow on Highway 246 less than a mile east of Lompoc. She has been the lone dissenting vote when the Board of Supervisors majority denies an appeal of a Planning Commission decision concerning cannabis operations.
I always thought that elected officials were there to serve most of their constituents, not favor a group of applicants. Apparently, I was wrong. Most cannabis operators are from outside of our county and don’t care that they are causing such a dramatic impact on the quality of life for so many citizens.
What’s most troubling is that when the county was considering the cannabis ordinance a few years ago, it totally ignored repeated warnings by the constituents concerning the odors they had experienced during illegal growing operations. If they had asked law enforcement officers who raided these operations, they would have known that the stink is overwhelming.
But the Board of Supervisosrs ignored the warnings, and even today, after receiving thousands of complaints from all over the county, they keep their collective “heads in the sand” concerning the adverse impact of these operations. Instead, they seem more concerned about the potential revenue that the grows may provide; I guess they haven’t read all the reports of lower-than-expected tax revenue from this industry.
It’s amazing how these politicians can continue to be reelected when they don’t respect the concerns of voters who put them in those chairs. Perhaps it would be instructive for the Board of Supervisors to hold a public hearing concerning the next cannabis permit appeal in the neighborhood that is being impacted by the odors to get a sense of just how the stink disrupts the lives of folks living near them.
I am guessing that just one trip for a multi-hour permit appeal hearing when odors are present will be enough to convince them there is a tangible adverse impact on the quality of life they have knowingly allowed to exist.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send a letter for publication to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Pride Issue 2023.
