With a planner saying Humboldt County has “set a record” by reviewing five cannabis farm projects at once, the Planning Commission proceeded to approve them at its April 3 meeting.
The five inter-related projects together amount to more than three acres of cultivation area but with irrigation needs covered by rainwater catchment and PG&E grid power at four of the five project parcels, there weren’t any obstacles to permitting.
Senior Planner Steven Santos described them as “kind of standard cannabis projects.”
The grouped parcels are located in the county’s southeastern area, off Hogtrap Road in New Harris.
The applicant for all five permits is Mark Finley of Garberville, doing business as Hog Trap Farms, LLC and Finmark Farms, LLC.
The only project in the batch with potential issues is 13,560 square feet of outdoor cultivation and 20,000 square feet of mixed light cultivation.
The mixed light area is a new use, as it’s being converted from outdoor cultivation.
As such, it’s permitted under the more recent version of the county’s commercial cannabis ordinance, known as version 2.0.
The other four projects are permitted under the county’s original ordinance, 1.0.
The mixed light conversion isn’t a significant issue but the project is near a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) area.
Santos noted a BLM comment letter that raised concern about potential Northern Spotted Owl impacts.
But Santos said the cultivation will be done in an area where cannabis farming has been ongoing, so it doesn’t deviate from a baseline condition.
An assessment by a registered professional forester shows that the closest cultivation areas to the BLM land are at least 900 feet away – which Santos described as “well beyond” a 600-foot minimum standard.
“There’s no Northern Spotted Owl habitat impacted by the proposal,” Santos said.
According to a written staff report, the permit’s conditions of approval include controls on lighting, prohibiting use of synthetic netting for erosion control and requiring “wildlife-proof” refuse containers.
The other projects are 40,000 square feet of outdoor cultivation, 30,000 square feet of outdoor, 27,240 square feet of outdoor and 6,600 square feet of mixed light, and 7,200 square feet of outdoor.
All the projects are pre-existing and only one will use generator power but it’s required to switch to solar by January 1, 2026.
The projects were unanimously approved in a single vote.
Also on the agenda was a Garberville-based project that aims to combine cultivation, non-volatile manufacturing, distribution and nursery operations.
It was on the meeting’s consent agenda of routine items but was continued to the next meeting.
Located on Alderpoint Road about 1,200 feet of the Upper Sawmill Road intersection, the project’s applicant is David Morris doing business as Pharming Humboldt Dreams, LLC.
A permit for 10,000 square feet of mixed light cultivation has already been approved for the project site and cannabis won’t be brought to the site from other farms.
A written staff report says the cultivation was approved under an administrative permit and “the county has gotten “a fairly significant number of complaints regarding the grading and development activities that have taken place” under the permit, which didn’t require public noticing.
The staff report also notes that “additional complaints were received regarding the construction of the building that is proposed for the microbusiness activities, which was constructed without first obtaining a building permit, and for unpermitted grading that occurred to open up a secondary access off of Sawmill Road.”
Both of the issues have been addressed by getting building and grading permits, according to the staff report.
The project will be 600 feet from a school bus stop, meeting a distance standard, but the county’s gotten a subsequent complaint about lack of notice, “the history of unpermitted activity on the site” and use of Sawmill Road as access.
The hearing for the project is set for the commission’s April 17 meeting.
