Really good news from Tuesday’s (Sept. 10th) Board of Supervisors meeting.
Since the Supes Tuesday meetings are also deadline day for the Observer, I only have time to report to you that the Supes voted unanimously to reject the lame attempt by Cannabis Dept. (with an assist from Planning and Building) staff to illegally expand weed grow sites from the Ordinance’s 10,000 square-foot cap up to 22,000 square-feet.
The Cannabis bureaucrats effort to bamboozle the Supes into buying their bogus contention that this was merely a “clarification” or “re-interpretation” of an existing clause in the Ordinance, didn’t work.
Supervisors John Haschak and Dan Gjerde were having none of the spurious arguments raised by the Cannabis staff and County Counsel’s Office.
In fact after only seven or so people made public comment objecting to the staff’s fanciful tales, Supe Ted Williams said he’d heard enough and made a motion to reject the so-called re-interpretation. However, the decision was made to allow the public to continue to address the Board, which included yours truly. LAMAC Member Traci Pellar, Ellen and David Drell, of the Willits Environmental Center, and another 15 or so folks also addressed the Board objecting to the proposed hoodwink.
As chairman of the Laytonville MAC, here’s what I chipped in:
At our August 28, 2024 meeting, the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council (LAMAC) unanimously approved and endorsed a letter from Ms. Traci Pellar regarding the so-called “Cannabis Reinterpretation” issue.
We urge the Board to reject this “backdoor” attempt to circumvent an unambiguous provision in the Ordinance. There is absolutely no authority under existing law or the Mendocino County Cannabis Ordinance for anyone, including County staff, administrators, or the Supervisors to “reinterpret”, in whole or in part, provisions of the Cannabis Ordinance. It’s widely accepted by constituents that such action gives the appearance of Cannabis Ordinance administration being an insider’s game played by staff and a self-selected few in the local cannabis industry.
We agree with the Willis Environmental Center: “This ‘re-interpretation’ turns seven years of understanding on its head and dramatically alters a fundamental tenant of the ordinance and the underlying justifications of its Mitigated Negative Declaration — and all without any public process. Less than two years ago, citizens of Mendocino County mounted a referendum against adopting a new cannabis ordinance that would have allowed just the kind of expansion that this re-interpretation would now make possible.”
Supervisor Gjerde also gets to the crux of the dispute when he says, “Mendocino Planning and Building Department has a long history of preparing memos on planning matters. My understanding is the purpose of such memos is to insure consistency in how department personnel apply County Code. The new interpretation of County Code (regarding the Cannabis Ordinance), as outlined in this memo, appears to me to go beyond scope of PBS memos, at least as I understand their purpose and scope. For me, the memo does not appear to be consistent with County Code, or what I believe was the understanding of board members or the public at the time of code adoption.”
You should also know that at our June 26, 2024 meeting, our Council unanimously approved the following action:
“The Council Hereby Approves Support For The May 9, 2024 Letter From The Willits Environmental Center To The Board of Supervisors Re: “Re-Interpretation” By Staff of Section 10A.17.060 Of The Cannabis Ordinance, as well as the June 2024 Petition/Statement By The Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVC) Regarding The So-Called “Re-Interpretation.”
“We urge the Board of Supervisors to reject in whole this proposed re-interpretation of Section 10A.17.060.
Thank you for taking this matter under consideration.
WHEW!