Sept. 14-21, 2017
NEWS of the WEEK
by Kelsey Brugger @kelseybrugger, Keith hamm, tyler hayden @TylerHayden1, nicK Welsh, and Jean yamamura, with Independent staff
news Briefs
marijuana
There Will Be Bud
immigration
Len Wo od/santa m a r i a ti mes
Supes Grapple with Writing New Pot Ordinance by Nick Welsh f the devil’s in the details, Santa Barbara County will need to conduct at least a couple of exorcisms before its supervisors figure out what kind of ordinance they want to pass to dictate where the area’s burgeoning recreational marijuana industry can develop. Although there was significant disagreement over specifics at this Tuesday’s board meeting, it was clear that four of the five supervisors were committed to passing a county-specific ordinance. When state voters approved Proposition 64 last year legalizing recreational marijuana, they gave local officials throughout California the latitude to pass enabling regulations of their own. If the supervisors stumbled along in congenial disharmony for about four hours, it’s in part because that task is dauntingly complex. It’s also the first time that all five supervisors collectively mulled the matter over. In recent months, supervisors Das Williams and Steve Lavagnino have met behind closed doors as an ad-hoc task force no fewer than 13 times. That process aroused the procedural ire of fellow Supervisor Janet Wolf, the most wary of the pot industry of any supervisor. Giving the discussion a sense of urgency is the tight, state-imposed deadline the board is facing to get something approved. They’re shooting for a fleshed-out ordinance by February 2018. Adding fuel to the fire are the revenues the supervisors and county bean counters are expecting the cannabis trade to generate. Although no reliable numbers currently exist, some supervisors
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county The Isla Vista Community Services District (CSD) celebrated on 9/12 its new office space at 970 Embarcadero del Mar, which its officers hope to begin filling with district records to give the public access more readily. The majority of the CSD directors accompanied 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann at a red-ribbon-cutting ceremony with President Ethan Bertrand and Vice President Natalie Jordan at the scissors. Office hours and staffing are still being tinkered out for the fledgling government body.
law & disorder
caugHt in tHe middle: County Supervisor Janet Wolf (flanked by Das Williams, left, and Peter Adam, right) repeatedly pushed for larger buffer spaces between new recreational pot businesses.
spoke their piece. Many knew each other, having testified a number of times on the same subject already. Residents from Tepusquet Canyon outside of Santa Maria showed up en masse to protest the influx of pot growers—21 farms, according to one account— that have taken root in their small community. They complained about increased traf traffic, risk of fire, water use, bad neighbors, and the assault by pungent pot odors. A couple of speakers from Carpinteria, where traditional cut flowers grown in industrial greenhouses have been supplanted by lucrative marijuana harvests, likewise objected to the smells. The pot growers showed up as well, cautioning the supervisors not to overtax or overregulate an industry that promises high-paying jobs and fiscal relief to a county government looking at serious budget shortfalls. One grower who’d recently moved from Los Angeles noted there —Supervisor Peter Adam were 2,000 dispensaries there, compared to 1,000 McDonalds are privately salivating at the thought of $20 and 1,000 Starbucks. In other words, get used million–$30 million a year from the recre- to it; the demand is irresistible. ational pot trade. Throughout the meeting, Supervisor bufThe State Legislature has also passed a bill Wolf pushed repeatedly to expand the buf defining 17 separate cannabis-related activi- fer between various pot enterprises and ties that will require state licenses. In broad what have been dubbed “sensitive receptors” categories, these are cultivation, manufac- — daycare centers, schools, parks, and the ture, distribution, testing, and retail sales. like — from 600 feet to 1,000. For all her This Tuesday, the supervisors struggled to many efforts, she got nowhere. Supervisor line up those 17 activities with the county’s Peter Adam, who runs a small agricultural menu of zoning options to determine what empire, argued that the pot industry should kind of businesses could be permitted and be relegated to large agricultural parcels 40 where. acres in size or bigger. That would maximize Before getting down to that nitty-gritty, production, he argued, while minimizing the however, about 28 members of the public aggravation experienced by individuals liv-
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A DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) work permit renewal workshop takes place at La Casa de la Raza (601 E. Montecito St.) on 9/23, but those interested must first call sponsors Future Leaders of America (642-6208) for an appointment. The workshop runs 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and is solely for those with a work permit that expires between 9/5/17 and 3/5/18. Help is also available to UCSB students through the Undocumented Student Services website at bit.ly/ucsbuss.
What if I got on the phone to a dispensary in Rancho Nipomo and said, “Hey, give me a fatty”?
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ing in more urban areas. He also argued that no outdoor cultivation could be allowed near residential areas. Supervisor Lavagnino, by contrast, argued that cultivation should be allowed on parcels as small as seven acres. If Adam’s proposal were enacted, he objected, most of Carpinteria’s booming greenhouse pot industry would be wiped out overnight. Supervisor Williams didn’t weigh in on the acreage requirements, but he insisted that strict odor controls be required on any operations interfacing with residential neighborhoods. He also argued that indoor pot operations pose potential fire risks. He suggested that the supervisors require that licensed electricians install the indoor lighting systems and that solar panels be required as well to offset the high energy demand. Little agreement was likewise to be had on how many dispensaries should be allowed. Wolf thought maybe one or two would suffice. Adam suggested 10 to 20. Williams argued that delivery services were easier to rob and harder to regulate and should be curtailed. Adam suggested Williams was waging a futile fight “against technology.” Soon, he predicted, pot would be delivered via drone. What, if anything, he questioned, could the county do to regulate inter-county deliveries? “What if I got on the phone to a dispensary in Rancho Nipomo and said, ‘Hey, give me a fatty’?” Though the supervisors couldn’t reach consensus, they disagreed agreeably. It being their first attempt, no action was expected, just general guidance. A more meaningful debate will take place in November after the environmental impact report and economic n analysis are slated for release.
Vehicles parked on Santa Barbara city streets with registration expired for more than six months can be towed to impound, a fact that Matthew Brown found out the hard way. He’d come upon a meter maid about to tow his truck on the 100 block of East De la Guerra Street on 9/13, became “irate,” according to the police report, shoved her aside, jumped into his truck, and took off. Police officers caught up with him at Figueroa and Chino streets, and he was jailed on $25,000 bail, charged with felony battery against an officer, and misdemeanor resisting and delaying the parking enforcement officer’s investigation. As the Sheriff’s Office continues its investigation into the apparent murder-suicide at Hollister Village on 9/12, a cause of death for Christina Martin has been determined. Martin, 57, had been residing with Beth Curnow, Curnow’s two children, and an older man at the apartment for several months. Martin was found dead at the apartment of multiple traumatic injuries, the Sheriff/Coroner’s Office reported. An autopsy revealed that Martin had been battered about the head and upper body and suffered a “compression of the neck.” Curnow was found by deputies in a garage at the apartment complex, an apparent suicide. Santa Barbara City College football player Isaac Brown, 18, was arrested on 9/13 on two charges of felonious assault on a peace officer after a violent confrontation in Isla Vista on 9/9. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Brown was involved in a large street fight at Del Playa Drive and Camino del Sur at around 11:40 p.m. As officers approached, Brown and others fled directly into the path of another group of responding officers. As police tried to grab Brown, he broke free and kept running, in the process yanking an officer toward the ground. She lost her balance and fell, striking her head against a truck bumper. Unconscious for several cont’d on page 10
independent.com
September 21, 2017
tHe INDepeNDeNt
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