[[ Credit: Melinda Burns
Lionel Neff, a coalition board member, said property line testing and an odor threshold would be “significant steps in the right direction.” However, he said, “the proposed amendments simply will not address the pervasive and perpetual nuisance to the community…. Community members have suffered for years, and this proposal does not move us quickly enough to solutions.”
For starters, some residents said, the county should not take any action on odor control until county Supervisor-elect Roy Lee, a Carpinteria City councilmember, takes office for the 1st District on January 1, replacing Das Williams, a Carpinterian who was a chief architect of the cannabis ordinance.
“Isn’t it disrespecting the voters in the 1st District to push through ordinance amendments right before seating the new 1st District Supervisor?” asked Tim Bliss, who lives on Casitas Pass Road. Another member of the Bliss family joined the lawsuit that was filed last year by the coalition against Valley Crest Farm and Ceres Farms, two large cannabis greenhouse operations at 5980 and 6030 Casitas Pass Road.
Most of the 20 “grows” currently operating in the valley, including Valley Crest and Ceres, rely solely on “misting” systems that are designed to mask the smell of pot after it escapes through the greenhouse roof vents and into the outside air. County records show that only six greenhouse operations are equipped with carbon filters, called “scrubbers,” which have been shown to eliminate most of the smell of pot before it can escape through the vents.
The letters to the commission from city officials and the citizens’ groups repeated their longstanding demand that the county amend its ordinance to require the installation of scrubbers in every cannabis greenhouse.
“Please set carbon scrubber requirements and monitoring thresholds that you would want if you lived in a Carpinteria home adjacent to a cannabis facility and your children studied and played at a Carpinteria school near a cannabis facility,” said Reece Duca, a longtime valley resident.
‘A Lot Has Been Accomplished’
According to the staff report, Geosyntec Consultants, a Santa Barbara engineering firm, recorded 335 measurements with Nasal Rangers at the property lines of valley greenhouses during two four-day periods this year — one in May and one in August — to evaluate the smell of cannabis. The vast majority of these measurements were classified as “no odor,” “faint or transient odor” or “mild to transient odor” — all below the threshold for inspection that the county is proposing.
More noticeable cannabis odor was recorded at greenhouses on Foothill Road that have long been the target of residents’ complaints — in the 3500 and 4400 blocks and the 4500 block near Carpinteria High School — and in the 5600 and 5700 blocks of Casitas Pass Road.
<img data-attachment-id="568355" data-permalink="https://www.independent.com/2024/09/27/carpinteria-cannabis-and-the-lingering-smell-of-pot/nasalranger-1/" data-orig-file="https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/NasalRanger-1.jpg?fit=600%2C399" data-orig-size="600,399" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta=""aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"" data-image-title="NasalRanger (1)" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>The county is proposing to measure the smell of pot along the property lines of a greenhouse with Nasal Rangers, if enough residents file complaints. ]] An odor threshold for the greenhouse property lines would be a start, but it won’t solve the problem, residents say. Read More