One Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge isn’t taking any of the Santa Barbara County Coalition for Responsible Cannabis’ guff.
Judge Thomas P. Anderle was the one giving the guff in a May 25 ruling on the coalition’s lawsuit against the Busy Bee’s Organics cannabis project, which the county approved in early 2020. Among the outrageous claims from the coalition: Cultivating marijuana isn’t considered an agricultural use. Therefore, the coalition argued, it isn’t allowed on land that falls under the Williamson Act, a state law designated to preserving agricultural land.
It seems strange that something requiring seeds or clones that get put in the dirt in rows and irrigated, grown, then harvested wouldn’t be considered an agricultural use. It sounds so similar to growing grapes for wine, which Blair Pence of Pence Vineyards and Winery—a chief architect of the coalition’s anti-cannabis lawsuits—grows a lot of.
And thank goodness Anderle ruled that state law does recognize growing cannabis as an ag use. It’d be weird if it was considered something else.
Anderle also chastised the lawsuit for making claims that he said had little to do with Busy Bee’s project and a lot to do with the county’s cannabis ordinances, which Pence and his partner in anti-pot activism, Marc Chytilo, should have challenged in 2018 when the rules were being created.
The suit alleged that the county’s program environmental impact report violated CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] and failed to address environmental issues related to cannabis grows. To which the judge said, no. “There are no conflicts,” Anderle wrote.
Oh snap.
Busy Bee’s co-owner Sara Rotman was, of course, positively delighted with the judge’s ruling and accused the coalition of abusing the legal system to “cause delays and force project applicants and the county to suffer crippling financial costs.” Which is a fair assessment from her side, considering the lawsuit against her company is one of
several cannabis-related lawsuits the coalition has filed against county-approved marijuana operations. Castlerock Family Farms and West Coast Farms are also in the coalition’s line of sight.
“I think Judge Anderle’s clear-eyed analysis of this particular lawsuit will be kryptonite for the coalition’s other CEQA lawsuits,” she said.
I don’t know if I want to compare these two dudes to Superman, but I get it.
Rotman has been dealing with project delays related to anti-cannabis opposition since the Planning and Development Department first approved the project in May 2019. That’s two years of delay, with the potential for more due to appeals.
Pence said the coalition is simply holding “cannabis growers and our local government accountable,” by filing lawsuits and project appeals. That’s so funny! He could have been involved in the extremely public governing process that created the ordinances under which these projects were approved, but instead he chose to participate after the fact—and only after he felt an impact.
Plus, he accused Busy Bee’s of being a bad neighbor, which is ironic considering the fact that all the cannabis farm did was file a project application that the county approved because it fit the ordinances that govern cannabis projects.
It would seem that following the rules falls under “great neighbor” protocols. While filing lawsuits against projects that bother you personally but fit county ordinances don’t fall under them.
The Canary is a good neighbor with a big mouth. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 3-10, 2021.
