I am writing to urge the community and the Santa Barbara Planning Commission to “Just Say No” to Cresco Labs’ industrial pharmaceutical pot operation in Carpinteria.
As a neighbor and avocado rancher, I strongly oppose Cresco’s proposed mega-factory. Cresco, a Michigan-based giant of the cannabis industry, wants to transform our beautiful neighborhood by turning Rene Van Wingerden’s dilapidated flower greenhouses into an industrial pot factory, complete with armed security guards, barbed wire, and 24/7 security lights. It’s like we went to sleep next to a few flower greenhouses and woke up next to a Pfizer factory growing opium poppies. With over 17 children directly nearby and many elderly residents nearby, this makes no sense, not here, not now, not ever.
Set right on the banks of Arroyo Paredon Creek, these greenhouses should never have been built there to begin with and would never pass full environmental review now, as a new project. Located at 3561 Foothill Road, the property’s driveway and land repeatedly floods and towers above the beautiful, delicate riparian habitat of the Arroyo Paredon Creek, home to endangered frogs, raptors, and mountain lions.