Carpinteria City Council Throws Down Over Cannabis

It wasn’t so much what was said or even the intensity with which it was said. Instead, it was the astonishing number of people who jammed shoulder to shoulder into the Carpinteria City Council chambers Monday night to speak their minds ​— ​pro and con ​— ​about the burgeoning cannabis industry that’s taken over the greenhouses of the Carpinteria Valley.

More than 200 people showed up ​— ​a record for Carpinteria ​— ​spilling into overflow rooms and choking the aisles. More than 60 spoke. Two former city councilmembers found themselves forced to share just one seat. One councilmember lamented afterward how the crowded aisles precluded a much-needed restroom visit.

At issue was a resolution expressing the City of Carpinteria’s displeasure with the County of Santa Barbara for allowing so much cannabis to be cultivated in such close proximity to two high schools ​— ​one public and one private ​— ​and within smelling distance of so many Carpinteria residents. The resolution ​— ​which carries no binding weight — castigated the county for its “permissive” regulatory environment that allowed for “an overconcentration” of commercial cannabis in Carpinteria. It complained about lack of enforcement and that the county supervisors had “largely ignored” repeated concerns expressed by the Carpinteria City Council over malodors and other issues for the past two years.