Melinda Burns, Special for the Santa Barbara News-Press CUYAMA VALLEY, Calif. (KEYT) – Back in 2014, the company overseeing Harvard University’s $36 billion endowment fund decided it would be a good investment to grow grapes on an old cattle ranch in the Cuyama Valley, a dry agricultural region where the underground water basin had been
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BUELLTON, Calif. – A class action lawsuit with broad implications for outdoor cannabis growers and their neighbors is approaching a pivotal moment, three years after it was filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court. The plaintiffs in the case are Pence Vineyards & Winery, at 1909 West Highway 246; and Quantum Wines, the indoor and
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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The team of four county Sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant that busted dozens of illegal pot operations and confiscated tens of millions of dollars’ worth of marijuana, beginning in 2018, has been broken up. The move was made official on Tuesday at a county Board of Supervisors hearing on the
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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – In a significant course correction this week, the county Board of Supervisors cut $1.4 million from its cannabis budget, taking the knife to administration, auditing, planning review and especially law enforcement. Voting 4-0 on Tuesday, with Supervisor Bob Nelson of Orcutt absent, the supervisors settled on $5.3 million for cannabis-related
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – The property owners at Island Breeze Farms, a controversial cannabis greenhouse operation across from the Polo Condos, are embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, having declared $9.6 million in debts, $6.4 million in real estate assets and $3,400 in the bank, according to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara. Island Breeze
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – In a case that could have broad implications for commercial cannabis growers, Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle ruled on Wednesday that the neighbors within a one-mile radius of Valley Crest Farms, a cannabis greenhouse operation in the Carpinteria Valley, can collectively seek damages for the pervasive smell of pot invading their properties.
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – In a 5-0 vote on Wednesday, the county Planning Commission endorsed the most consequential changes to the county’s cannabis ordinance to date, recommending that all indoor growers be required to install advanced carbon filters, a state-of-the-art clean air technology, in each of their greenhouses. The “skunky” smell of pot, the commission said,
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – One of the most contentious projects in the Carpinteria Valley — a proposed 25,400 square-foot processing building for a cannabis greenhouse operation that has generated hundreds of foul odor complaints — has been delayed again, this time during design review. The building is proposed by Graham Farrar, a co-owner of G&K Produce
Continue Reading CARPINTERIA, Calif. – Working on a fast track, the county Planning Commission on Wednesday tentatively endorsed a county Board of Supervisors proposal that would require the installation of state-of-the-art odor control technology inside every cannabis greenhouse in the Carpinteria Valley. Under the proposal, which will return to the commission for a vote on Feb. 19,
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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – A disappointing first quarter for fiscal year 2024-25 garnered only $1.3 million in cannabis tax revenues for the county, the worst first quarter showing since the program began in 2018, the county CEO’s office reported this month. The first quarter, covering July through September, does not include the twice-yearly spring
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CARPINTERIA, Calif – It’s a tale of two Americas. Vowing to make good on a top campaign promise that whipped his followers into an anti-immigrant frenzy, President Donald J. Trump declared “national emergency” on the border with Mexico during his inaugural address at the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. He got a standing ovation. “I will
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CARPINTERIA, Calif.– In a dramatic course correction on Tuesday, the new county Board of Supervisors set in motion a requirement for the use of state-of-the-art odor-control technology at each of the cannabis greenhouses of the Carpinteria Valley, a mecca for the industry ever since the county opened the gates to a “Green Rush” in 2018.
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – Wasting no time in the New Year, two members of the new county Board of Supervisors have scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday to consider stronger odor-control regulations for the cannabis greenhouse industry in the Carpinteria Valley. The move by board Chair Laura Capps of Goleta and Supervisor Bob Nelson of Orcutt
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CARPINTERIA, Calif. – Island Breeze Farms, a small greenhouse pot operation across Foothill Road from the Polo Condos at the western end of the Carpinteria Valley, has been denied a zoning permit by the county Planning Commission. It is the first time the panel has turned down a cannabis project in the region. The 4-1
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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif- In an unusual move, the county Planning Commission signaled this week that it may deny a zoning permit for a cannabis greenhouse operation that lies across the road from the Polo Condos at the western end of the Carpinteria Valley. The Island Breeze Farms project for two acres of greenhouse cannabis
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A water rights lawsuit by giant carrot corporations, well into its third year, is driving up legal fees and gumming up the plans for sustainability, residents say
Continue Reading The cannabis operation next to the Polo Condos in the Carpinteria Valley must install carbon scrubbers for odor control, county planning commission says.
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As the county supervisors prepare to vote next week whether to propose a cannabis tax increase for the November ballot, they are facing a dilemma largely of their own making — the unintended consequences of promoting a “Green Rush” in Santa Barbara County.
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Lompoc Cannabis Lab will pay $1.3 million penalty for air pollution – the operator will install a state-of-the-art clean-air technology, setting a statewide standard, county officials said.
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County CEO: Cannabis tax revenues are falling short — again. Four pot shops in unincorporated areas were expected to open but didn’t, officials said.
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