Cannabis Project Next to Pence Vineyards Is Withdrawn
Owners Cite Family’s ‘Competing Business Interests’
In a surprise move, the owners of El Dorado Farms on Highway 246 west of Buellton recently withdrew their proposal for 35 acres of cannabis under hoop-houses next to the Pence Vineyards & Winery, county records show. The project had generated bitter opposition from some vintners and residents in the region.
Blair Pence, who heads the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, a countywide nonprofit group that has sued several growers on 246, appealed to the county Planning Commission last fall to overturn the project. Pence told the commissioners that the stench of cannabis from El Dorado would jeopardize his tasting room and equestrian business and discourage wine tourism in the Sta. Rita Hills, the federally designated American Viticultural Area between Lompoc and Buellton.
“It appears that this project is dead,” Pence said this week. “I couldn’t be more pleased.”
