The largest cannabis operation to come before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors — 50 acres of cultivation at the gateway to the fabled Sta. Rita Hills, a federally designated wine-grape-growing region — was approved for a zoning permit in a contentious 3-2 vote on Tuesday.
Santa Barbara West Coast Farms LLC, located on 73 acres on Highway 246, a mile west of Buellton, was before the board on appeal. The county Planning Commission turned down the project in December, saying the proposed area for cannabis cultivation and processing covered too much of the property and would generate “skunky” smells. The commission found that the operation would create conflicts with vintners and other “legacy agriculture,” partly because of the potential for “pesticide drift” onto the lucrative cannabis crop.
But Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, who represents the Santa Maria Valley, wasn’t having any of it. He said Tuesday that to deny West Coast Farms would effectively be to ban all outdoor cannabis cultivation in the Santa Rita Hills.