Santa Barbara Cannabis Hearings Long and Unresolved
Dramatic Power Outage Forces Meeting to Delay Final Vote on Ordinance Changes
The county’s much-embattled cannabis industry was not saved so much by the bell this Tuesday evening as it was by a random car crash late in the afternoon when an errant Santa Maria driver collided with a power pole, knocking out electrical services for 4,111 properties, most notably the Joe Centeno government center. That loss of power forced all five county supervisors to switch rooms and scramble — devising a combination of a tablet, a cell phone, and a Facebook page — to keep the meeting going, thus allowing every member of the public who wanted to testify, including those in downtown Santa Barbara, to speak their piece.
By the time the exhausting 10-hour public meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m., more than 200 speakers had done just that.
Both sides successfully amassed their respective troops for a knock-down-drag-out over a series of votes that partisans for and against the new industry believed would significantly control how cannabis growers could continue to cultivate in Santa Barbara County.
