New Draft Materials Released for Sonoma County’s Cultivation Ordinance 2.0
By Lauren Mendelsohn
February 20, 2021
On February 16, 2021 the County of Sonoma published new draft documents related to the proposed cannabis cultivation ordinance (which I will call the “Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance 2.0” or “CCO2.0” for short), including a Notice of Intent, a Draft Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration, an updated Draft Chapter 38 Commercial Cannabis Ordinance, Draft Amendments to Chapter 26 of the Sonoma County Code (which contains the existing commercial cannabis ordinance), and a Draft General Plan Amendment. These documents can be viewed on the county’s cannabis program website.
These new documents replace the preliminary draft documents for the CCO2.0, which we previously wrote about here. To summarize, the CC02.0 would create a new pathway for applicants with properties in the LEA, LIA, DA and RRD zones to obtain a ministerial permit from the Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures (the “Ag Department” or “AWM”) provided the requirements in the proposed Chapter 38 are met. Parcels would have to be at least 10 acres in size. Up to 10% of the parcel area could be used for canopy area for outdoor or hoop-house cultivation. For indoor and greenhouse cultivation in existing permanent structures, the canopy size would not be limited, though if new or expanded permanent structures would be used this area is capped at one acre (unless the parcel is over 20 acres in size, in which case up to 50% of the maximum lot coverage prescribed by the base zone could potentially be used for cultivation canopy). A number of plans, studies and information would have to be submitted relating to items such as water use, waste management, security, odor control, noise control, and more. There would not be a specific application window or set number of cultivation permits that the county could issue; rather, applications would continue to be accepted on a rolling basis as they have been under the existing ordinance, which is primarily managed by the Permit Resource and Management Department (“PRMD”).
While the county initially only published a preliminary draft of Chapter 38, the new documents indicate that some changes are being proposed to the current Chapter 26 cultivation licensing pathway, for example requiring Conditional Use Permits for some activities that currently only require a Zoning Permit if they are not eligible to take advantage of the new Chapter 38 pathway that is proposed, and incorporating some of the environmental protection measures that are included in the proposed Chapter 38 to the current Chapter 26 language. Additionally, the new documents do not mention anything about transitioning applicants under the existing ordinance over to the new ordinance if they qualify, and various other questions still remain.
Notably, Sonoma County is proposing to amend the Agricultural Resources Element of its General Plan to state that “agriculture,” as used in the General Plan, includes cannabis. However, the definition in the County Code would not be updated, meaning that cannabis cultivation would be deemed agriculture for some purposes but not others.
Comments on these documents are due by 12:00pm PST on March 18, 2021. Comments can be directed to the Sonoma County Planning Commission c/o McCall Miller, Department Analyst, Cannabis Program, County Administrator’s Office, and submitted electronically to Cannabis@sonoma-county.org or by mail to 575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A, Santa Rosa, California 95403. A public hearing on this item has tentatively been set for March 18.
This is a developing story; stay tuned for more details.
This information is provided as a public educational service and is not intended as legal advice. For specific questions regarding cannabis or hemp policies in Sonoma County or elsewhere in California, please contact the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa at 707-829-0215 to schedule a confidential legal consultation.