Really good news from Tuesday’s (Sept. 10) Board of Supervisors meeting.

At the session, the Supes voted unanimously to reject the lame attempt by Cannabis Dept. staff to illegally expand weed grow sites from the Ordinance’ s 10,000 square-foot cap up to 22,000 square-feet.

The Cannabis Department, was also joined by the Department of Panning & Building, and the County Counsel’s Office, in an attempt to skirt state laws requiring public notice and holding a public hearing prior to amending or changing Ordinances.

The Cannabis bureaucrats effort to bamboozle the Supes into buying their bogus contention that this was merely a “clarification” or “re-interpretation” of an existing clause in the Ordinance, didn’t work.

I worked with Supervisors John Haschak and Dan Gjerde on this issue, and they were having none of the spurious arguments raised by the Cannabis and Planning & Building staffs and County Counsel’s Office.

In fact after only seven or so people made public comment objecting to the staffs’ fanciful tales, Supe Ted Williams said he’d heard enough and made a motion to reject the so-called re-interpretation. However, the decision was made to allow the public to continue to address the Board, which included yours truly. Here’s what I chipped in at Tuesday’s meeting:

At our August 28, 2024 meeting, the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council (LAMAC) which I chair, we unanimously approved and endorsed a letter from Ms. Traci Pellar regarding the so- called “Cannabis Reinterpretation” issue. We urge the Board to reject this “backdoor” attempt to circumvent an unambiguous provision in the Ordinance. There is absolutely no authority under existing law or the Mendocino County Cannabis Ordinance for anyone, including County staff, administrators, or the Supervisors to “reinterpret”, in whole or in part, provisions of the Cannabis Ordinance. It’s widely accepted by constituents that such action gives the appearance of Cannabis Ordinance administration being an insider’s game played by staff and a self-selected few in the local cannabis industry.

We agree with the Willis Environmental Center when they say: “This “re- interpretation” turns seven years of understanding on its head and dramatically alters a fundamental tenant of the ordinance and the underlying justifications of its Mitigated Negative Declaration — and all without any public process. Less than two years ago, citizens of Mendocino County mounted a referendum against adopting a new cannabis ordinance that would have allowed just the kind of expansion that this re-interpretation would now make possible.”

Supervisor Gjerde also gets to the crux of the dispute when he says, “Mendocino Planning and Building Department has a long history of preparing memos on planning matters. My understanding is the purpose of such memos is to insure consistency in how department personnel apply County Code. The new interpretation of County Code (regarding the Cannabis Ordinance), as outlined in this memo, appears to me to go beyond scope of PBS memos, at least as I understand their purpose and scope. For me, the memo does not appear to be consistent with County Code, or what I believe was the understanding of board members or the public at the time of code adoption.”

“You should also know that at our June 26, 2024 meeting, our Council unanimously approved the following action where our Council supported two groups who are also calling for the BOS to reject the spurious attempt by the Cannabis Dept., the Planning & Building Dept., and County Counsel’s Office to unlawfully and unilaterally amend the Ordinance without a public notice and without holding a public hearing:

“The Council Hereby Approves Support For The May 9, 2024 Letter From The Willits Environmental Center To The Board of Supervisors Re: “Re-Interpretation” By Staff of Section 10A.17 Of The Cannabis Ordinance, as well as the June 2024 Petition/Statement By The Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVC) Regarding The So-Called “Re-Interpretation.”

“We urge the Board of Supervisors to reject in whole this proposed re- interpretation of Section 10A.17.060.

Thank you for taking this matter under consideration.

LAMAC Member Traci Pellar, Ellen and David Drell, of the Willits Environmental Center, and another 15 or so folks also addressed the Board objecting to the proposed hoodwink.

I want to thank the Supervisors for representing the vast majority of their constituents by rejecting what most agree was a very bad idea.

Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org