Hartmann’s Cannabis Solution

I live
on a horse ranch on Fredensborg Canyon Road. Supervisor Joan Hartmann was
instrumental in preventing a cannabis farm in our community from expanding to a
large growing operation.

The
grower was already growing medicinal marijuana for personal use. He was
proposing to build just under 15,000 square feet in greenhouses for marijuana
cultivation, on a five-acre parcel completely surrounded by homes and small
ranches, in a neighborhood community outside the Solvang city limits. It was
not a suitable place for a large growing operation, as even the Solvang City
Council stated and voted. But, because it wasn’t immediately next to the
Solvang urban boundary, it wasn’t automatically banned, and it might well have
been approved.

We
reached out to Joan Hartmann, who dove in to help. She and her staff worked for
six months with the community to revamp the ordinance to prevent that grow, and
others like it. She met with a room full of angry people, but stayed with us,
working together through the Planning Commission and back to the Board of
Supervisors. Joan took a leadership role throughout; she was one woman in a
room full of men but speaking with a ‘‘soft loud voice.” That’s Joan; she
speaks from the heart, but follows through with knowledge, commitment, and
expertise.